You Drive Me Crazy
by FaithfullyFallen417
Summary: Jarley drabbles from my tumblr, rating will be vary depending story
1. Chapter 1

**This ain't lust, I know this is love**

So he was a bit of a creeper…wait no, he wasn't a creeper he just liked looking out for her. Yup that's the answer he was looking for. So he watched her sometimes in the hallway or in their English class but he really wasn't creeping on her he was just…watching.

He knew Marley was different from the first time he had met her because the first thing he noticed was her eyes. Now normally he would check out the girl's boobs or butt, but with Marley, he noticed her eyes, they were this blueish, greenish kinda mixture…like the color of the tropical ocean he would see on those cruise commercials. Next thing he knew, those ocean color eyes were sucking him in and he joined that glee club so he could get close to her…well that had been a mistake because he was kicked out…and he didn't get to hear her sing. So he had the bright idea to go to the auditorium while they were practicing and that's when he hit rock bottom, he had heard her sing.

Jake couldn't explain her voice, it was smooth…like the feeling of when you take a bite of ice cream but classical…almost like one of those Disney princesses that his sister likes. But there he stood, like a stalker, watching her. It was like everyone else had disappeared off the stage and it was just her singing to him. Was she aware of the fact that she was insanely talented and extremely beautiful? He wasn't sure if she did, she seemed so quiet and shy…but up on that stage…she was a different person.

He kept on listening until the last note and that's when she looked up, saw him and smiled as she sung. _"Even if it leads nowhere"_

He freezes because he knows she can see right through his tough guy act and leaves as quickly as he can, missing the look of disappoint that flashes on her face.

He needed to get control on this…feeling he was having before it spiraled out of control. His number one rule: Never become too attached because they will always leave.

But he was wrong, all so wrong about her. She wasn't leaving and she wouldn't break his heart. Deep down he knew that, but he wasn't ready to take the chance just yet


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm losin' my mind, girl**

This wasn't good…or normal. Jake Puckerman had always been a player, a hump and dump so to speak. He met girls, flirted with them, hooked up with them and then promised to call…promised being the key word. Sure he found the girls that he hooked up with hot, what would be the point of hooking up with them if they weren't. But his mom told him two things almost every day: That if he ever knocks a girl up he is on his own and that one day, a girl will come along that will take his breath away. A girl that will make his heart beat faster and his head go dizzy. This girl will drive him to the point of insanity until he finally mans up and buckles down. But that would never happen because there was not a girl in Ohio that made him feel that way…or so he thought.

It started on the first day of school, he had just been released or whatever from that reform school and moved back in with his mom. He wasn't all sure if his mom was that happy with him being home, his step dad sure as hell wasn't. So he surprised himself and his mother by willingly going to the first day or school, he just needed to get away from the ass that lived in his home and drank all the damn beer.

Though it was around lunch time when he first saw her and what bummed him out was the fact that she looked so upset. She was sitting on the bleachers, looking past the cheerios and into space. He was just going to hang around and try to swoon one of the freshman girls with his guitar but something about this girl made him go over to her and take a seat. She still hadn't noticed that someone had joined her and he felt his heart clench when he saw a stray tear rolling down her cheek.

"Hey," He asked and she jumped. "Are you alright?"

She looks over at him, her blue eyes wide and making his whole body tense up. She then licks her pink lips (crap) and then nods. "Yeah um," She looks back out at the cheerios. "Everything is fine."

"That's a lie" He tells her and she raises an eyebrow, slightly insulted. "I have the ability to tell lies from truth." Why is he still talking to her? She is making him feel…things…and he doesn't even know her name. "So-…If you want…you can tell me what's wrong."

She then sighs. "It's this school." She finally explains. "Everyone here is so stuck up and rude…they do not care about other people's feelings and," She huffs. "What is with the slushies?" she hisses and then slumps. "I miss New York."

"You're from New York?" Jake asks, yep this girl is seriously dangerous. "I've sorta always wanted to live there."

"It's amazing" She gushes. "The city, the lights, the glamour…Broadway." Her eyes are sparkling as she speaks and there is that dizzy feeling in his head. "My mom took me to see RENT before we left." She sighed. "It's my favorite play"

Yup, Jake was in deep shit. Every feeling that his mom told him about? Yea…he was feeling it and feeling it bad. "That's the one about HIV right?"

She looks surprised as she answers. "Well that is only part of the story but yes, it's the one about AIDS" Her eyes then wander down to his guitar. "Oh you play?"

"Yeah and sometimes sing, it's more of an outlet…my therapist and parole office suggested a hobby." He shrugs and notices that she doesn't flinch when he pretty much mentions that he is the bad boy of Lima. "My name is Jake by the way."

Then she smiled, a bright, pearly white smile. "Marley" She introduces.

"Marley?" He asks with smirk. "Is your mom a Bob Marley fan?"

Marley nodded. "A huge Bob Marley fan, she loves his music." She laughed. "She would play it nonstop when I was growing up in our cramped shoe box apartment." Marley paused. "It would make the neighbors so mad so then she would turn off the music and sing it herself and make me join her…for some reason they liked that."

"Oh, so you sing huh?" He smirks. "Are you any good?"

Marley smiled shyly. "Well I got into the Glee Club so I guess I'm good." She explains and then frowns. "I'm thinking of quitting though, they are bullies just like everyone else in this school." She sighs. "It's like I can't escape them." Marley shrugged. "I was bullied a lot in my other schools."

He is in shock because he doesn't know why someone would bully this girl, she was amazing…damn…there he goes again. He wants to go to New York just so he could beat the crap outta the kids that tortured her and now he is ready to after those glee kids. "Why where you bullied?" He asks because he has to know.

"My mom and I where squatters." She explains. "We really never had a home, just old abandoned apartment buildings and warehouses." Marley's eyes search his face. "I thought it was fun, we were nomads but the kids at school called me names and made fun of me. Then my mom told me she got a job and found a place in Ohio. A home," she smiles. "Something that we own." She blinks. "It's a trailer but it's still ours and now that…cheerio or whatever you call her is calling me Richie Poor."

Jake nods. "Well bullies are a part of growing up," He is giving her the speech his mom gave his sister. "It builds a back bone and you just gotta know that one day, when you are a doctor they will me mopping up puke in the bathrooms." She gives him a strange look. "Well I think that you shouldn't quit," He stood up. "Give them hell with your kick ass voice."

"You haven't even heard me sing." She states and he shrugs. She then gets this smile on her face as she stands up. "Well maybe you should join, you know to hear me sing." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Thanks for listening, I guess I'll see you around?"

"Yeah of course" He tells her almost to excitedly. She gives a small smile and then picks up her bag to leave. "Bye" He stutters and she walks away as he smiled like an idiot to himself. Maybe he would join that glee club after all.


	3. Chapter 3

Cause I could use some friends for a change

Detention, he was headed to detention. For what you ask? Well he sort of lost it in Mr. Collin's class again and might have knocked all of the teacher's things off his desk but whatever, the man had it coming. He tried to justify his problems, like he actually new something. So that was the reason why he was on his way to the school kitchen. No other teacher wanted to deal with him so they dumped him on the new lunch lady…poor woman.

So when he reached the kitchen doors he saw the lunch lady, the really nice one that was over weight, preparing lunch for tomorrow. "Uh hey," He said and she looked up. "I'm hear for my detention."

The woman smiled and went to get up but Jake stopped her. "Just show me what you want me to do."

"Ok, well those dishes need to be done." She pointed out to the stacks and stacks of trays. "That should take you three hours."

Jake's mouth dropped. "That's child labor"

"Well," The woman shrugged. "It was either that or suspension Jake, none of the teachers want to deal with you."

"How do you know my name?" He asked as he took the rubber gloves she was offering.

She laughed. "Everyone in this school knows your name Jake…also I had to clean up the mess you made when you kicked the trash can over…"

"Yeah, sorry about that." Jake apologized, wait…was he really saying sorry to someone?

"But," She said. "I also think you know my daughter, Marley?"

He blinked as his face flushedand throat went dry, that always happened when someone said her name. "Yeah I know her."

"Oh" Marley's mom smiled. "So your that Jake?" She laughed. "She talks about you all the time and I was hoping that I would get to meet you. I wanted thank you, in her other schools she was bullied a lot…to the point where I would have to take her out." Marley's mom kept on smiling. "You really helped her, brought her walls down. I am so happy that she is happy."

She took a look at the five stacks of dishes and then sighed. "Well I will leave you to your work, yell if you need me."

Jake wordlessly nodded and began filling the sink with water, knowing that this was going to be a long three hours. If her mom only knew that he was the reason why Kitty was bullying her. Kitty had thought that Marley was trying to 'take' him from her…he wasn't really into Kitty anyway and he was going to break up with her; but if he did that Kitty would torture Marley even more.

So he took a deep breath and looked at the clock, six couldn't come any faster.

Around 3:30 he heard the doors to the kitchen open again, he thought it was Mrs. Rose coming in to check on him but it wasn't, it was Marley and she sounded upset.

"Mom?" She called out and Jake remainded silent, but she must have heard the water because she came walking over to him. "Why are you here?"

He sighed as he put the gloves next to the sink and turned around. "Jesus Christ" he muttered as he looked at her. She was covered from head to toe in slushies, all different colored ones; she looked like the rainbow. Everything was ruined, her hair was stuck to her face and he could see right through her clothes. But she looked at him, tears in her eyes. "Who did this."

"Why don't you ask your girlfriend!" She snapped…she never snapped at him.

Jake shut his eyes momentarily and the took a deep breath. "I am so sorry…I guess I should stop by pets smart and get her a new cat teaser huh?"

And there it was, that bubble of a laugh. "Let me help you." He said as he took a clean towel and turned the sink on. He started to wipe the sticky goo off of her face and out of her blue eyes. "What did they do?"

"It was a surprise attack, they ambushed me as I turned the corner." She explained, blinking quickly as the rest of the corn syrup was wiped from her eyes. "You should get her a litter box so she could start dumping her crap in there."

Jake began to laugh and Marley smiled along. "There is that mean streak again." She rolled her eyes as he turned on the sink next to him. "Use that to was it out of your hair." He insructed. "My brother gave me some tips…" She was the only one that new about his meeting with his brother. "And don't go loosing that, you need some bite in that soul of yours."

"Thanks" She said as she took off her sweater, leaving the undershirt on. She moved her hair aside and Jake smiled at what he saw. "Get the hell out of here, Marley Rose, is that a tattoo on your neck." He laughed as she blushed. "I didn't know you had ink" and moved to touch the feather on her neck, his fingers tracing the word 'free'. "What is it for?"

"My dad," Marley answered. "Growing up we always blared 'Free Bird' and he is a free bird now…he passed away, but he is free from the sickness."

Jake smiled sadly at her and backed away, a calming silence passed between them and he kept starring at the tattoo on her neck. "Jake?" She asked as she finished washing her hair. "Can I ask you what you see in Kitty?"

Jake thought about it for a moment, Kitty pretty on the outside but ugly on the inside. Marley, however, was different. She was beautiful on the outside and inside. He did see a lot in Marley, he saw an old soul and a big heart with big voice. He saw a girl with a lot of love to give and someone who was understanding no matter what he did.

What he saw in Kitty…nothing, absolutely nothing. "I don't know," He answered. "I don't know what I see in her."


	4. Chapter 4

What if I told you it was all meant to be?

Marley smiled as she walked to Mr. Schue's office. She was proud of the fact that he wanted her to sing at his wedding, just four months ago she was an outcast and now she had friends and teachers that liked her. She might not have gotten the guy she wanted but that was ok…she guessed…well she wasn't going to let it bring her down now anyways.

But as she reached the office, she noticed her glee coach talking to a small brunette girl who looked far to excited about the conversation she was having. She took a chance and walked over to the open door, Mr. Schue noticed her quickly and offered her a smile.

"Marley!" He smiled. "Great timing," He gestured to the brunette. "This is Rachel Berry. Rachel," He said as gestured to Marley. "This is Marley Rose."

Rachel smiled brightly, she did have that stage smile. "It's nice to finally meet you, I was wondering about the girl that made Blaine go on and on about the girl who covered New York State of Mind flawlessly." She turned to Mr. Schue. "I thought it was weird cause I sung the same song in class." Rachel looked back to Marley. "Great singers think a like."

Marley looked nervously at the two. "Well I am not as great as you."

"Don't talk down on yourself," Rachel scolded. "Takes years off your life."

Marley gave a shy smile and Mr. Schue shook his head. "Any girls, the reason why I called you two in here was because Emma really wanted you two to sing a duet at our wedding. Now I know its in two weeks but I'm sure you girls can choose something from this list."

Marley looked down at the packet that was in his hands and gasped. "These are all of our songs" Mr. Schue told them and handed one to Marley. "Just pick one from the list and don't tell us. We want to be surprised."

"Uh-ok?" Marley said un-surely because who could have a list of songs that was five pages long. Rachel, however, was extremely excited about this and grabbed her hand.

"That sounds great Mr. Schue!" Rachel quickly said, and dragged Marley off. She had heard stories about Rachel and honestly, it scared the life out of her

So the next thing she knew, she was in the choir room and standing next to the piano looking through the list as Rachel highlighted, book marked and noted everything on that list that would be suited for their voices.

"Why don't we do 'I don't Want to Miss A Thing'?" Marley asked and Rachel scrunched up her nose. "What is wrong with that?"

"Nothing, nothing…" Rachel mused as she crossed it off the list, causing Marley to scoff. "Don't get me wrong, I love a smooth rock song as much as the next girl but this is the song is their first dance as bride and groom. It is really important."

Marley shook her head. "Well I am not doing a show tune."

"What is wrong with a show tune?" Rachel asked, eyes lowering.

"Nothing, nothing," Marley repeated. "We just do them a lot in Glee."

Rachel gave a long, drawn out, sigh. "Fine"

The two were silent for a while, Marley had hoped that they would get along but Rachel was Broadway, Marley was blues and classic rock. They couldn't be more different. That is what she thought until Rachel smiled at something on the list.

"How about 'A Moment Like This'?" Rachel asked. "Please tell me you like Kelly Clarkson."

Marley smiled. "Yeah, I like her…and the song is good."

"Great!" Rachel exclaimed and began to dived the song up according to notes and vocals and handed Marley a sheet after a fifteen wait. "Here, we can start practicing now." Rachel said but it went un-heard because Marley was looking at the list blankly. "Look I am sorry that I shot down that song of yours but…" She started and looked at the list and saw what she was looking at, another Aerosmith song, Crazy.

The NYADA student sighed. "Does that song mean something to you?" She asked, making Marley jump a little.

"Well…a little." Marley confirmed and the older girl smiled.

"It's a boy isn't it?" Rachel asked. "I know a lot about heart break, I've been through a lot…this guy, did he break your heart?"

Marley nodded, laughing sadly. "Without even knowing it."

"Can I know who it is?" Rachel asked, not wanting to step on any toes.

"Jake Puckerman." Marley muttered and Rachel raised her eyebrows.

"Noah's brother?" Rachel asked. "You have a thing for him."

Marley gave a sigh. "He is nothing like his brother." great, she was defending him again.

"Yeah, he is nothing like Noah." Rachel told her. "Noah didn't throw text books and break windows, he has problems Marley…what about that nice football player, Ryder?"

"Rachel, I'm not you" Marley slowly said."I am not going to date the star of the football team."

Rachel shrugged. "So you think you can fix Jake?"

"I don't want to fix him," Marley explained. "He needs to be who he is." She shrugged. "He just has been through a lot you know."

"He opened up to you?" Rachel asked, sounding surprised. "Wow, then that means he trusts you." Rachel smiled. "Look, I made a whole lot of mistakes when I was your age and if you really have feelings for Jake you have to let him know. Don't go around dating other guys and messing up his relationships because that will make him hate you."

Rachel took a deep breath. "Now that I think of it you would be good for him, maybe he would take his head out of his ass." She put the sheet music down and stood up. "But if you and Jake are meant to be together you will be together, just tell him and be honest with him…tell him how you feel about him." She smiled a little. "I saw the way he looked at you and I have a good feeling he feels the same way…so you never know, you may just get what you want."

The old MVP took a seat at the piano. "So how about we practice now and later you can call Jake and set something up."

Marley smiled at her and looked at her sheet music. "Thank you Rachel."

"No problem, now lets start from the top."

Marley nodded and started to sing the opening of the song, knowing that this was the start of a beautiful friendship


	5. Chapter 5

**Three Little Birds**

He hated this kind of rain, it was the cold rain that mixed with snow and not great for walking around in a hoodie with two kids in. He had two year old sister Stella in his one arm and was holding the hand of five year Hailey. He walked quickly past the rows of trailers, looking at the numbers on the mail boxes. He knew Marley lived somewhere among the 20's but he had forgotten which number. He was blaming the blow to the head he took, the blood that had been streaming from his nose had frozen on his face along with Hailey's tears.

"Where we going Jake?" She asked between sobs.

Jake's breathing is labored as he speaks. "Marley's"

Stella looks up at him with her head nose. "What about mama?"

"She's visiting grandma remember…we will call her in the morning." He tells them and then stops when he sees the yellow trailer. He squints his eyes and sees that the lights are off but he can see the tv flickering. So he crossed the street and walked up the cement stairs to knock on the door. He notices a slender figure move along the shadows and he can hear her behind the door and then the locks quickly unlocking. She opens up the door quickly, her eyes wide as she looks at her swollen face and then to his sisters. "What happened?"

Jake grunts, Stella was getting too heavy for him and Marley reaches out to get her. "Can we just come in?"

Marley nods and she holds the shivering two year old close and lets them in, shutting the door behind them. "Jake" She softly says. "What happened to your face?"

"Mick did it" Hailey told her and Marley frowns, taking in the kids cold, wet cloths.

"He did what?" She whispers harshly

Jake shook his head. "I will tell you later, do you have any clothes for them?"

"Yes, Jackson has pajamas that will fit Hailey and Stella." She take's Hailey's hand from Jake. "C'mon girls, let's get you dried up. Hailey gave a nervous glance to Jake who gives her a weak nod. "C'mon, Jake will be ok"

She comes back out thirty minutes later with a first aid kit. "The girls are asleep." She explains, keeping her voice soft as she applies rubbing alcohol to some gauze. "It took a lot of convincing to get them down." She watches him as she shivers. "Are you cold?"

"No" he says with chattering teeth. "Just anticipating the sting from the rubbing alcohol."

She fakes a smile because she knows that now she'll have to tear down this wall. She leans over and presses the gauze to his eyebrow. He hisses but then relaxes when he noticed that she got closer to him. "Please tell me what happened?" Marley asked as she picked up the icepack and placed it to his swollen nose. He didn't open his mouth and Marley sighed. "Please Jake, open up to me. What happened?"

"Mick lost it" he says in a broken voice. "Hailey was getting herself a glass of milk and dropped the whole gallon. Mick walked into the kitchen and saw all the spilt milk on the floor and just went insane." He shutters. "I stepped in between them and he just…" He took a breath. "Did this"

"Does your mom know?" She asks as she looks at his beat up knuckles. "Where is she?"

"She is in Toledo visiting my nana." Jake tells her. "She doesn't know, I'll call her in the morning."

It is silent as she finishes cleaning his cuts, when she was done she threw the bloody gauze away and then faced him again. "You need to lose the clothes, you're gonna catch pneumonia."

He gave her a nod and she got up from the sofa, venturing into the hallway closet for a quilt and some sheets. She smiled when she found the heaviest one and carefully shut the closet door and walked the three step walk back to the living room. She saw that he was standing up now, his shirt and hoodie gone and he was inspecting an ugly bruise on his side. "Did he do that to?" She asks and he stops and looks up at her, his eyes filled with pain. She walked over to the sofa and dropped the blankets and pulled him into a hug, she could feel his tears on her shoulder. "I am so sorry Jake." She whispers. "No one deserves this"

Marley somehow maneuvered him to the sofa and grabbed the heavy quilt, wrapping it around them as he cried. Every wall he built up was falling to the ground in a pile of rubble. She soothed him as well as she could by caressing his face and speaking soft words. He had his arms around her like she was his own human stuffed animal and she was careful not to move on his damaged side. He slowly stopped his tears and she noticed that he was having trouble settling. So she did what she did for Jackson when he was sad and what she just did for Jake's sister, sing.

So she moved up to his ear and softly sung. "_Don't worry about a thing, 'Cause every little thing gonna be all right/Singin': "Don't worry about a thing, 'Cause every little thing gonna be all right!" /rise up this mornin', /smiled with the risin' sun/Three little birds /Pitch by my doorstep /Singin' sweet songs /Of melodies pure and true, /Sayin', This is my message to you-ou-ou."_

Marley smiled gently as she watched his eyes flutter shut, her own eyes feeling heavy. She let herself scum to sleep, knowing that she would have some explaining to do when her mom came home.

He woke her up around six am, needing to go pee. So Marley carefully sat up and watched him struggle to get up. "My side is fucking killing me." He groans as he walks into the bathroom. "Christ, my face" She hears him moan. She then sits quietly and he comes out moments later, taking a seat next to him. "Thank you Marley, for being there last night."

"It was no problem" She confirms, her voice still scratchy from waking up. "You would have done the same for me."

He smiles but she can tell that he is in pain. "I gotta call my mom about Mick huh?"

"That would be a good idea" She says as she gets aspirin from the kitchen cabinet and a bottle of water from the fridge. She hands him the capsules and water then sits back down. "She needs to know what is living in her home."

Jake nods and looks at his cell phone that is sitting on the coffee table. "Yeah" He then looks back up at her. Her eyes looking intently at him and her hair mused from sleeping. "You look beautiful when you wake up." Then her pale skin turns crimson from embarrassment. "I'm serious, I don't know how you do it." He weakly laughs. "I mean Kitty walks around as if she is the hottest girl in school and she is not, she is so ugly on the inside."

"She is going to be pissed if she finds out you spent the night here." Marley sadly says. "You shouldn't tell her."

"No I am going to tell her" Jake says as Marley looks up. "And I'm going to break up with her, if I went to her last night she would have turned me down or took me in and bragged the next day as if she was a saint or something."

Marley shrugged. "That is true" she truthfully said as she watched him touch the cut above his eyebrow. "Don't do that, you will aggravate it."

He mumbled something that she couldn't understand and then sighed. "Don't build the walls back up Jake" She begged and he narrowed his eyes. "I know what it's like ok," She gave a sad laugh. "We are more alike than you think."

"I know" he murmurs. "I just don't like being seen weak?"

"You think I'm weak?" She asks.

Jake shook his head. "Hell no, Marley, if I went through half the crap you went through I would be worse than I am now. I have no idea how you handled it, that's why I came here last night. I knew you would know how to handle it."

She smiles and takes his hands into her own, looking once again at his bruised knuckles. "You never told me how you got this."

"I hit him back" he tells her with a smirk as a look of shock. "I got tired of being his punching bag so I swung. I think I broke his nose, actually I hope I broke his nose."

He took a deep breath as she ran her fingers across his palms. "You sang to me last night"

Marley gave him a shy smile. "You said you wanted to hear me sing Bob Marley."

"I did, didn't I?" He asks and she nods. "Well thanks for that" Jake looked outside at the fresh blanket of snow. "What are we going to do; I seriously don't want to go to school looking like this."

"We can ditch." She suggests. "My mom will be home in thirty minutes and we can explain what happened. Then you can stay here until your mom comes back…ok?"

Even though it pains his face he smiles a general smile, he knew it would take a lot of time to win her trust back but he was willing to take the time to do it. He let the right one go and he seriously paid for it, dating Kitty was like dating an actual cat…he hated cats. "Marley?" he asked as she stood up. "Your right you know, saying that we are alike. Maybe that's why I trust you."

"You trust me?" She asked

"I've only ever opened up to you, so yeah I trust you…can you trust me?" He asked, his own hope rising.

Marley smiled sweetly. "I'm starting to." She grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet. "Now c'mon, lets wake up those kids."

He shakes his head no and pulls her back down onto his lap. "No, let them sleep, I want you to sing to me more."

She laughs her musical laugh and finishes her song from last night _"Singin': Don't worry 'bout a thing, /'Cause every little thing gonna be all right. /Singin': "Don't worry (don't worry) 'bout a thing, /'Cause every little thing gonna be all right!"_


	6. Chapter 6

And From You're Lips She Drew the Hallelujah

He couldn't explain it; everything about her was just so different. She wasn't like most girls that he dated, most girls that he dated. Most girls that he dated where always trying to 'save' him, or 'fix' him. She let him be himself, she never pushed him to tell him about his past. When he would tell her about his childhood, she would sit in front of him, legs in Indian style and her blue eyes, pure, like a crystal lagoon bearing into his dark, cold eyes. She would listen, not adding her two cents in but rubbing his knuckles. It would sooth him, let him know that she was there and she liked him for who he was and who he is now.

But what he found was the most intriguing about her was the fact that she giggled, a lot, a whole lot and she liked singing in his ear whenever he trapped her underneath him. They were like that now; she was beneath him, a laughing mess in her vintage tee shirt and boyshorts, the wristband from the winter carnival still attached to her wrist. He moved down to kiss the column of her neck, making another fit of giggles erupt from her mouth. This time, he chuckled against her as his hands caressed her smooth, pale legs and she sighed, grabbing his face and meeting his eyes.

"What's wrong?" He asked and she shook her head, a smile gracing her pink lips.

"Nothing," She said her soft voice, that was another thing about her. She always spoke so softly around him, he has heard her raise her voice before but never toward him. But even when she was angry, she didn't yell, she just made you feel like crap. "I'm just," She paused as she ran her fingers along his chin. "Really happy."

He raised an eyebrow. "And why are you really happy" He murmured as he pressed another kiss to her soft lips.

She once again giggled. "Because a certain someone told me that he loved me tonight." She smiled. "It surprised me actually, that this guy could be such a romantic." She explained, that smile never leaving her lips. "He actually waited for the snow to start falling to tell me, and then gave me that single white lily." She pointed to the flower that went left on his desk.

"But do you love this guy?" He asked as he pulled her into his arms.

She breathed. "Of course I do," She looked up at him through her thick eyelashes. "I love everything about you Jake Puckerman, whether it is good or…not so good."

He chuckled as he buried his nose in her coconut scented hair. "I love you Marley." He reminded her as she started up in her giggle fits. "And you're random laughing fits."


	7. Chapter 7

**Movie Night**

"I swear you have some weird sex addiction" Marley mumbles as she watches the horror movie on the tv in front of her. She rolls her eyes at the two teenagers on screen, who would have sex in an abandoned house anyway, where they trying to catch something. "I mean its un-believeable" She rants. "What sane girl would be ok with her boyfriend bringing her to some house where people died in to screw." She took a deep breath. "She is either stupid or a slut."

Jake sighed and turned the volume up on, he should have let her choose the movie.

"Oh great!" Marley explains as she puts a handful of popcorn in her mouth. "And now heleavesher to go get more beer!" She threw her hands up. "Is he serious? There is a murder in the house and he leaves her!"

"She asked him to get the beer Marls and they don't know that Micheal is back." He explains.

The explanation falls upon death ears because she is still going on. "Oh lovely, now he got his head bashed in by the killer, great job dude…you are obviously to stoned to know that the six foot seven man was there to kill you." Marley shakes her head as she grabs her soda. "This is the stupidest movie I have ever seen" She mumbles and sits back into sofa. "It's not even scary"

Well it turns out that its not scary to him put she is actually on his lap by the end of the movie, holding onto him like some kind of monkey and her nails feel like they are embedded into his neck.

"Is that it?" She asks as hystical sobs of Laurie Strode pour out the speakers. "She killed him, he is dead?" Her blue eyes are wide. "Is she going to be ok?" She turns back to him. "Oh god is she going to go crazy? What happenes next! It can't end like that!" She frowns. "You are a cruel man Rob Zombie" She mutters as she looks at the tv again. "What about Annie! is she ok?"

Jake chuckles and she starts speaking at a different pace. "Is there a second one?"

"Yeah" He tells her."And it sucked…and I think you have had your fill on horror movies for the night."

Marley narrows her eyebrows and kissed the tip of his nose. "You are lucky I am tired or I would fight you on this one."

Jake scoffed. "Like you would win."

"Well tomorrow night is the pretty little liars Halloween episode, we are going to watch it. I watched this so you owe me" She said, giving him those puppy dog eyes.

"Fine" Jake caved and Marley laughed.

"You see, you can't say no to me." She said with a smile.

Jake shook his head. "No, I just don't want to watch another horror movie with you."

Marley rolled her eyes and then flicked his ear. "You should watch bridesmaids with me, you would be in for a treat."

He laughed and shook his head. "No, I think I'm going to pass on that"

"Fine, your loss and Sugar's gain" she mused as she snuggled her head into his shoulder.

Jake smiled as he wrapped his arms around her, watching her as she searched for something to watch. "Oh," He heard her exclaim. "HBO is having a Game of Thrones marathon."

Yeah, she was definitely the best girlfriend ever.


	8. Chapter 8

The Earth is movin, but I can't feel the ground

She is talking to her mom when Sugar comes running into the school's kitchen. Her face is pink, her eyes were bugged out and she says one thing that makes Marley jump off her stool. "Jake lost it."

With out even looking at her mother she runs out, after the rich girl who she could call a friend. Sugar leads her down the empty hallway toward the choir room where she does, in fact, hear Jake yelling. Marley pushed by Sugar and stopped at the doorway, her blue eyes wide as she watches the scene in front of her. Jake is screaming at Ryder as some of the graduated members of the glee club attempt to hold him back. The tall guy, Finn, stands between them as the other one, Mike, tries and fails to hold him back. She looks over at Sam who is covering his own nose as blood pours out and then over to the rest of the glee club who are watching with looks of shock and fear.

She shakes her head, clearing it of the distractions and then yelled. "Jake!" But he doesn't hear her because next thing she knows he punched Finn in the jaw. "Jake!" She screams and runs over to him, grabbing his arm as it rears back again. "Stop it Jake!"

He snaps his head toward her and the hate in his eyes vanishes when he looks at the panic in her own. He looks around the choir room, his chest heaving as he looks at the looks of fear and confusion coming from all of them. Then he looks at Marley who gulps and then tugs his arm. "C'mon, let's get out of here." she says softly and leads him out of the choir room.

Marley takes him to the auditorium and sits them both on a prop bench that is being used for Hopelessly Devoted. She pulled him down to sit next to her as the ear ringing silence fills the room. "You wanna tell me what happened back there."

He says nothing, he only puts his face in his hands and yells. He knows it doesn't scare her, she is use to it by now. But when he stops he is still silent and Marley sighs. "Jake, please don't make me beg." and he is still silent. So with a deep breath Marley gets up. "Fine, just come to the choir room when your calm."

Inside, Jake panics because he doesn't want her to leave him so he just blurts it out. "I didn't like the way he was looking at you."

She stops in her tracks, gathering herself mentally before dealing with this. "What are you talking about?"

"Ryder, I don't like the way he looks at you and I don't like the way he talks to you." He mutters and Marley licks her lips in annoyance.

"He is just a friend Jake" She pushes, her own anger starting to build.

Jake scoffed. "Yeah, ok, he is a 'friend' that wants to get into your pants."

Marley's eyes narrowed into slits. "So what, you think I would let him?" She stomped back over to him. "Do you not know me?"

"I just don't want to see you get hurt!" Jake said through clenched teeth.

She gives him an annoyed laugh, is he serious now? "_You _don't want _him_ to hurt me." She shook her head. "I think you were the one who did all the hurting Jake" She hisses and before he can interrupt her she says. "You are the one that used me to get into Glee, you made me think that you had feelings for me." She looked down at her feet. "And I was the one who was stupid enough to believe it, I'm sure you and Kitty had a great laugh over it." She turned to leave again but his voice stopped her.

"I didn't tell her about us," He explains, his voice calmer now. "I didn't tell her about the kiss either...I dated her because," He cleared his throat. "I dated her because I was scared,"

"Of what!" She snaps.

"Of you!" He yells and there is a beat of silence and a look of shock forms on Marley's face. "I was scared about the way I feel about you," he softly said. "I have never felt this way about someone and it scares the shit out of me." He blinks. "I thought Kitty would make those feelings go away but...she didn't. When I was with her all I could think about was you."

Marley didn't know how to handle this confession so she just stood there as he stood up and walked over to her. So she just avoided his gaze as she blinked back the tears that where filling her eyes. "Is that why she broke up with you?"

He wordlessly nods. "She broke up with me cause I said your name," She looks up at him in confusion. "I said your name when we were making out and she lost it."

She sniffs and a few tears slip from her eyes. "Well that explains the massive insults coming from her"

Jake simply nodded and brushed some of the tears off her face. "I'm so sorry Marley, can we be ok again?"

"That depends," Marley takes a deep breath. "Are you still scared?"

Jake smiled at her and leaned in closer to her, his breath tickling her lips. "No, I'm not scared anymore."

"Well," she starts. "If you think I am going to make the first move again you are out of your mind."

He chuckled as closed the distance between them, letting his lips explore hers again, he was not going to screw this up again. What they had felt right and he wasn't letting it go, not for anything.


	9. Chapter 9

you give me fever when you kiss me

He is surprised when he walks into the choir room and see's Marley's chair empty, he is even more surprised when it remains empty for the rest of the 's been a month since he has been in Glee and he knows for a fact that she has never missed a practice, not ever. So he takes out his phone and tries to text her but fucking Schuester told him to put it away or 'its his'. Whatever, at least Jake was worried about her absence because no one else seemed to care and that pretty much pissed him off. If anything, Marley was the soul of this club, Blaine may have been lead vocalist and Tina might fight to get all the solos but Marley (who in his eyes was the most talented in the group) was the soul. He had heard her belt out Stevie Wonder's _superstition_ and knew that she had the soulful voice and that she deserved every solo that was thrown at her.

The older members did have a bit of a hissy fit when Hudson and Schuester had given them both the duet for Sectionals...that Tina chick had even threatened to quit. But he and Marley rocked the song during every practice and Tina came around eventually when she was given lead solo. He seriously thought these people needed to chill about the solos and shit. In his mind, if you got a solo that ment that your voice was right for the song and obviously Hudson and Schue thought that him and Marley's voice blended for the 'Some Nights' duet. Anyone else could go fuck themselves, their duet would be their chance at winning and they wanted to win.

After Glee Club practice was done, Jake mulled his way over to the cafeteria to find her mom. He had served detention with Marley's mom and she invited him over a lot for dinner. The woman was awesome and her cooking was amazing as hell. He was sure the woman felt bad for him but he didn't care, he didn't what a real family was like until he spent time with Marley and her family. "Hey Mrs. Rose" He greeted as the woman cleaned off some tables before the next lunch period started. "I didn't see Marley in glee today."

Mrs. Rose nodded. "Yeah, she's home sick with a cold."

"Well is she ok?" Jake asked quickly and Mrs. Rose laughed a little.

"It's a cold Jake, she will be fine." Mrs. Rose told him. "She will be back tomorrow."

Jake gave a swift nod, he had gym next and then the rest of his classes where down time so he decided to do what he did best...ditch.

She is miserable to say the least, her nose is so stuffy that she can't breath and her throat feels like she ate a pine cone. So she was a big baby when she was sick, she had a right to be. Her fever was so high that she was actually wearing shorts in october and her head felt like it was going to implode at any moment. What sucked even more was the fact there was nothing to watch TV, if she had to hear 'You're the father' one more time she was going to lose it. But before any of that could happen, she heard a knock at the door. Marley quickly picked her head up from the sofa and listened again for the next knock that came at a faster pace. Confused and a little dizzy from the fever she got up to look out the peep-hole to see that Jake was outside her door. She unlocked the three locks that jake had put up for them and let him in. "Shouldn't you be in school?" She croaks and Jake actually laughs at her.

"Holy shit, you do sound awful." He comments and she rolls her eyes and plops back onto the sofa, with Jake right behind her. "I brought you some soup, it's that italian wedding soup that you like so much."

She eyes him suspiciously and snatches the take out cup from his hands. "It's not poisoned is it?" he laughs and shakes his head no. "Oh so then I get an insult and food, any girl should be so lucky."

Jake sighed as he grabbed the remote. "Just stop talking and eat your soup."

Marley gave him a teasing smile and grabbed the spoon from the bag, not taking any time before diving into the food. She moans at the taste and that makes Jake look over at her with a questioning quirk of the eyebrow. But she finishes and leaves the cup empty with a smile on her face, she looks over at Jake and swears its the fever but he is looking the same way he looked at her that day on the bleachers. He surprises her by reaching out and feeling her forehead.

"Christ, you are burning up." He mutters and lets his hand fall to her cheek. "Are you taking anything?"

She tries to say yes but goes into a fit of sneezes and he sighs. "I drank some of that herbal tea this morning."

"Marley," He says with narrowed eyes. "That is not medicine, its not going to cure you." He tries his best to not laugh at her pout. "Do you have any cold medicine at all?"

"My mom bought NyQuil, its on the counter." She tells him as he stands up. "But I don't want to take it, it makes me loopy."

Jake shook his head and walked over to the kitchen counter, and takes the NyQuil. He takes that, and bottle of water from the fridge and sits back down on the sofa. He poured the medicine in the tiny plastic cup and then handed it to her. "You need to take this now because if you are not better by the end of the week, your solo will go to Kitty."

Her eyes go wide at his threat and she actually snatched the plastic cup from his hand. "She is not getting that solo, I worked hard for that." She gulps down the medicine and then reaches out for the water, drinking it down quickly and sitting back against the sofa. "I can't let her take another thing from me anyway."

He frowns because he knows what she means. Kitty had been a bitch to her since day one and he acted like he didn't know why but he did. Kitty was threatened by Marley because Marley actually had talent and people liked her for her personality not because they were forced to. So he moved closer to her on the sofa and moves some of her hair behind her ear. "Stop letting her get to you." he murmurs. "She is not worth it."

"I don't want to see her up on that stage singing with you," The fever must have been making her confess everything. "It broke my heart to see you two dating."

"I thought you didn't mind it." Jake reminds her.

Marley sniffed and gave a laugh. "Well that was a lie, I have feelings for you and I thought you felt the same way." She pouts like a child and Jake moves in closer, taking a chance and placing a lingering kiss on her lips.

Her pulls away after few moments and Marley touches her lips, a confused look on her face. "What did you do that for? You are going to get sick." She whispers.

"I'd rather get a cold then sing with her." Jake says and Marley gives him a dazed smile. "And I do have feelings for you Marls."

She watches him carefully and then moves herself on the sofa again so her nose is touching his. "Well," She smiles. "Then I think we should try that kissing thing again, just incase you have a strong immune system" And they do just that.

Two days later, Jake is sick with that same cold and it doesn't take the glee club that long to know who he got it from.


	10. Chapter 10

don't hold nothing back

"You have as much sex appeal as a care bear" Is a common insult that Kitty throws at her weekly. Marley wants to snap back and ask her when was the last time she got a face lift but holds it back for Jake's sake. She has to remind herself that her bestfriend/crush is dating the she-witch so she lets the comment float by as Sugar stands next to her with her mouth hanging open.

"Are you just going to let her talk to you like that?" Sugar asks as she closes her locker and Marley shrugs as she watches the evil cheerio and her goons walk away. "Marley, you shouldn't let her walk all over you."

Marley sighs and zips her school bag. "What's the point? My walmart clothes with the j-crew label stitched on proves hers."

"I knew it" Sugar cut in with a whisper and Marley rolls her eyes. "Look Marley, it's not the clothes that makes the girl sexy its the way she moves in her own skin." The upper classmen smiles as she looks at her phone. "Just remember that." She checks the time as the final bell rings. "Do you need a ride home?"

She shakes her head no and tosses her school bag over her shoulders. "No, I was going to practice that dance routine that Brittany put together in the auditorium and then just leave when my mom is done cleaning the lunch room."

Sugar gives her a smile. "Ok, well text me if you want to hang out later." She turns around "Ciao bella"

Marley laughed and then shook her head as she made her way to the auditorium, happy to have found a friend in Sugar.

~x~

He got out of detention early today, Mrs. Dunn's kid got sick so she had to leave early so she let everyone go. So he strolled down the halls, actually happy because he just wanted to go home and sleep. Dealing with Kitty and her bitchyness was tiring and he wasn't sure how much longer he could handle it. He was almost at his locker when he heard a smooth beat coming from the auditorium and stopped in his tracks because he knew that song. So he slowly opened up the door and peaked in, smirking at what he saw.

It was Marley, dressed in a pair of black leggings and a black tank top that showed her mid-drift. She was attempting to learn the dance that Brittany made up but was failing. So he smiled to himself and walked in, dropping his school bag on one of the chairs as he made his way over to the stage. He quietly walked up the stairs as she circled her hips and then sighed in frustration. So he kicked off his shoes and walked up behind her, placing his hands on the warm skin of her waist and breathed in her ear. "You're doing it wrong." He says as he pulls her so their bodies are molded into each other. She doesn't attack because she knew it was him, he made the smart move of speaking before she had a chance to speak up. "You are moving your hips the wrong way." He says against her neck, his lips tickling her skin.

"Jake" She breathes, her eyes closing. "What are you doing?"

He chuckles in her ear. "Showing you how to dance the number" and he starts moving her hips slowly as the track played softly in the background. "Now push yourself into me" He instructs and she does as she is told and feels her body feels on fire as he moves along with hers. "Good" He murmurs marks her neck with opened mouthed kisses. She whimpers as her belly begins to fill with a strange warmth, it was something that she has never felt before but god did it feel good. She begins to feel more confidant as she dances the routine with Jake, their bodies never once sepertaing...it was apart of the number anyway so there was no harm in this. Or that is what she thought until she spun herself around and felt something hard pressing into her stomach...oh...she knew what _that _was. She was about to back away from him when he stopped her and she looked up into his dark eyes. They were much darker than they usually where and he was looking at her in a way he had never looked at her before.

Her voice is husky when she speaks. "What's wrong?"

He doesn't say anything, he only stares at her lips and he starts to move forward when the door of the auditorium opens and the voice of Sugar fills the big room. "Marley, are you still in here?"

They jump away from each other and Jake hurries to put his shoes on and jumps off stage, brushing past Sugar as he grabs his bag and leaves. Sugar looked back with confusion and then walks down the aisle, meeting Marley half way. "We must have switched our copies of 'Lord of the Flies' so I swung back around to give you your book." She eyes her carefully and then looks around the auditorium. "Why does it reek of sex in here," She then looked at Marley. "And why is your neck covered with hickeys...holy crap," She smiles. "You are Jake where totally doing it."

Marley's face turns red and she rolls her eyes. "No, he was just helping me with the 'sexy' routine." she explained as she picked up her backpack.

"Uh-huh, well you two where sure getting into it then." Sugar muses as Marley puts her shoes on

"It's called dedication" Marley snaps and Sugar laughs.

"No its called seduction," Sugar tells her as they exit the auditorium. "That my daring is sex appeal," She smiles. "I guess Botox Barbie was wrong about you."

Marley smiles and accepts Sugars offer for the ride home. She listens to her drone on and on about how priceless it was that Marley managed to seduce the head bitch's boy toy. She felt a little safe because she knows Sugar wont tell anyone and starts to feel safer when she gets a text from Jake.

'That was fun,' it reads. 'We should try it again sometime'

Then her phone vibrates again and what she read sent her over the moon. 'Btw, Kitty and I are done so call me when you get home. I'll explain everything.'

Yeah, sure..._she _had no sex appeal.


	11. Chapter 11

She's got me thinking about her constantly

So Marley Rose is a complete badass and doesn't even know it...hell, the kids in glee club that she calls friends doesn't even know it. In school, she puts these walls up and never lets anyone see her true personality. He gets his first taste of Marley Rose when they hung out for the first time, she saw right through his tough guy cover up and even had the nerve to call him out on it.

Now, even though he is dating Kitty, she is always on his mind. He catches himself fascinated by the little things she does, like when she talks about something she is passionate about her eyes go wide and sparkle with excitement. He notices that she likes to bite her bottom lip when she is taking notes in class and when she is frustrated she will click her tongue and erase what she wrote quickly. Then when she looks over at his notes she rolls her eyes at his chicken scratch and sighs his name in annoyance. That's something that he likes, the many ways she says his name. She doesn't call him Jakey like Kitty does, she has told him that she finds that increasingly annoying and there was no way in hell she would call him that. Jake is perfectly ok with that, he prefers it actually. He had told Kitty a million times to not call him Jakey but she still does.

He loves their time together, he hangs out with Marley more than he hangs out with Kitty. The air between them is always calm and peaceful, sometimes they don't even talk. Sometimes they will sit in the park under the huge oak tree, his legs spread out and her sitting between them with her head resting on his chest. She usually will be reading and he would be listening to music, one ear bud in his ear and the other in hers. The people in the park suspect them to be a couple, two teenagers in love. Well they were not a couple but very much in love with each other.

* * *

November comes around and the weather gets colder, Kitty actually forces him to give her his jacket. He is thinking about breaking up with her one morning when Marley comes walking in the doors of the highschool but she is on the arm of another guy. Ryder Lynn, that jock transfer student who somehow got into glee club and Jake wanted to go over to them and snatch her away from him. But they walk right by them, Kitty's eyes narrow in what he sees as jealously and that is when it hits him. Kitty wants what Marley has, his suspicions are confirmed when she speaks. "Who the hell does she think she is?"

So by the end of the week Jake is single and when he goes to tell Marley he goes nuts. She is wrapped up in Ryder's arm and it's her head on his chest and she is laughing at his jokes. But what stings the most about it is that they are sitting on the bleachers, the spot where Marley Rose stole is heart. He sighs and turns around, shoving his hands into his pockets and walking away with a bowed head. He doesn't even notice that Marley looks up, sadness written all over her beautiful face.

* * *

December rolls around and its a harsh, cold winter. His mom was diagnosed with cancer in the first week of the month and his world crumples because his mom is all he has. When she tells him he goes into a fit of rage and knocks everything off the kitchen table and then storms out of their mobile home and toward the playground. He is alone for a good five minutes before someone sits on the swing next to him, he takes a chance and sneaks a peek to see that its Marley. They live in the same trailer park and she is only five minutes away from his house. She is clad in a big chunky sweater, a homemade scarf and boots on her jean clad legs.

"Your mom called me" She explains. "She's worried about you, she said you stormed off and didn't know where you went." She smiles. "Luckily I know you so well." There is a beat and she looks down at the snow on the ground. "She told me everything, your mom needs you to support her right now." Her voice is strong when she scolds him. "You can't just blow a hissy fit and leave her."

Jake shrugs. "What's the point, she is just going to leave like everyone else in my life."

Marley shakes her head. "No, no she is not Jake." She pushes. "Your mom is a fighter, she is going to get through this."

"Do you know how much it's going to cost, the hospital bills our insurance is not going to cover it." Jake argues. "I might as well sign myself up for foster care now."

She is silent for a while and then sighs. "My mom is talking to your mom about it know." She confirms. "Our trailer is a little bigger then yours so you and your mom are going to move in and we are going to help you guys with the bills."

"No, I don't want charity" He growls and stands up to leave. Marley stops him, not letting go of his arm.

"It's not charity, it's friends helping friends out." Marley clarifies and Jake rolls his eyes. "Now what?"

Jake looks away from her. "I don't think I can live in a house that Ryder visits on a daily biases."

"I don't think you'll have to worry about that." She tells him with smile. "Kitty came along and snatched him up." His eyes go wide and he is going to apologize when Marley puts a finger to his lips. "No, don't worry about it." She smirks."It was kinda my plan all along"

He takes her hand away from his mouth and holds it in his own. "Your plan?" He asks with a raised brow.

"Yeah," Marley shyly answers. "Santana, Quinn, and Rachel helped me put it together. We figured out that Kitty wanted what I had and Ryder is pretty clueless so we sorta used him."

Jake laughs because that is probably the most awesome thing that she has ever done. "Those girls are a bad influence on you."

Marley joins in on his laughter and then puts her serious face on. "Don't tease me, I will go all Lima heights on you."

"I would like to see that," He smiles as he rubs her knuckles, that same calming vibe settling between them. "I was insanely jealous when I saw you with Ryder." He gulps. "You are unlike any girl I have ever met and..."

"And?" Marley asks, a look of hope gracing her features.

He licks his lips, it's now or never. "And I'm pretty sure that I am in love with you."

Marley smiled and looked down at his bruised knuckles, he must have just recently punched something. "Well," She says and looks up at him, her blue orbs meeting his dark ones. "I think that's something else we have in common." She laughs at the confused look he gets. "That means I love you to Jake"

A goofy grin appears on his face and he goes to close the distance between them when she holds up a finger. "But we can't share the same room, our parent's saw it coming." He shakes his head and puts her hand down kissing her sweetly. When they finally pull away for air he wraps his arms around her waist and murmurs into his hair.

"But they said nothing about the shower"

She laughs and shakes his head, peppering his neck with butterfly kisses and Jake can actually see a future with a girl. He can see a small house, kids, successful careers...the whole white picket fence deal. He may only be sixteen but he knows that she was the girl who changed him and made who he was now, with her by his side he could deal with his mom's cancer. Hell, with her by his side he felt like he could concur the world.

And he wouldn't have it any other way.


	12. Chapter 12

how can I stand here with you and not be moved by you

He notices it before anyone else does, he personally blames it on being the 'lone wolf' for so long. Quite ones tend to take in everything that is around them so that's why he isn't surprised when he sees it first.

The first notice sign is at every lunch period, her meals get smaller and smaller until its nothing but a roll and water. She doesn't even eat the roll anymore, it just kind of sits there and she just stares at it as the rest of the glee club talk and laugh at stupid jokes. He frowns at them, how could they not notice that one of their members is unhappy. So he sighs and drinks his iced tea as Kitty struts over to them and pulls him away from the club, he turns around and meets Marley's sad eyes. What was going on with her?

~x~

Around December is when he notices the weight loss, she is getting to the point where he can actually see her bones but still no one takes notice. No one notices that her skin is getting paler and paler, no one sees that her hair is no longer shiny but weak and dull, no one sees that she is slowly crumbling under that stone mask she puts on for everyone to see.

But he sees, Jake sees everything. He now notices that the roll is no longer a part of her lunch, its just the water now and he is scared for her.

Kitty once again passes by their lunch table, no longer dragging Jake off with her but sending Marley a cruel comment. "Oh sweetie," She sneers and Marley looks up through her blank blue eyes. "It's nice to see that you are controlling your diet."

One of her goons laughs and throws in her own two cents. "She'll still be as fat as her mama"

And just like that Jake snaps, can't they see that she is in pain? He jumps from his chair and tackles the guy to the ground and hits his face until he hears his nose snap. No one pulls him off, it's like they want him to do this. He then grabs the guy's shirt collar and says. "Don't you ever talk to her like that again!" He roars. "Do you understand? Or its going to be more then your nose that will be broken."

Jake looks up from the ground and to the lunch table to see that Marley was missing. He gets off of the Jock and then looks around the silent cafeteria, trying to find any trace of her. When he doesn't he sighs and then turns to Kitty. "I have a moral code to never hit a girl, but I know a chick that is more then willing to kick your ass. So lay off of Marley or Brittany will let Santana know."

With that he turns around and pushes through the crowd, nobody is stopping him so he figures he better find her before the school security finds him. Luckily, he knows where to look.

An inch of snow covers the football field as he walks across it. He can see her sitting on the bleachers, so he starts to run toward her. When he gets to her, he can see that her tears where freezing on her face. "Marley" He murmurs and she looks away from him, her body shivering. He takes his leather jacket off and wraps it around her, pulling her into his embrace. "What is going on with you."

She turns her head, trying to talk but sobs are the only thing that are pouring from her mouth. But what he can make out is "I don't want to end up like my mom"

Jake had been right, he shakes his head and rocks her back and forth. "Stop it Marley, don't let them get to you." He sooth as she shakes in his arms. "What happened to that confidant girl I met four months ago? You can't let that bitch and those assholes get to you."

"They are right though" She sobs and he continues to shake his head no. "I'm not pretty, I'm not thin…I'll never reach my dreams. I'm going to be stuck here forever."

He feels like someone is taking a knife and stabbing him in the heart over and over. Right now he wants to do more than break the bones of her tormenters, but he needs to be here for her. It was Jake's turn to take care of Marley, he owed her so much already. So he takes a chance and opens his heart to her. "You need to see yourself the way I see you." She looks up at him and is actually now listening to him. "When I look at you I see this beautiful, smart, sexy girl." He took a deep breath. "You walk around thinking that guys don't notice you but let me tell you that they do." He laughed. "I spent most of last month wanting to rip Ryder's face off for looking at you the way he did." He notices her smiling and his heart did this little flip-flop thing, so he somes up every last amount of courage in his body. "You are so much different then Kitty." Jake tells her. "Kitty is ugly, it doesn't matter what she looks like on the outside. To me, she is the ugliest person in this school. You, however, are beautiful from the inside and out. Everytime you look at me, you take my breath away because I think how unworthy I am to even be near you."

Jake smiled as he wiped the tears from her eyes. "No other girl has done that," He explains. "Taken my breath away. But you did the day you opened up your mouth and sung that Billy Joel song." She gives him a look of shock. "I stayed to watch you audition," he confesses. "And that day when we sung on these bleachers was the day I fell in love with you." He pauses. "Can I get that Marley back?" He asks her and she blinks. "I really need her."

"Yeah" Marley weakly says. "But I don't know what to do."

He nods. "It's ok," he says. "We will get through this together" and she burries her head into his chest. "Just like we always do."


	13. Chapter 13

**Your Body is a Wonderland**

He pretty much worships her body, it was like she was made for him and only him. Jake took the time to memorize every little detail on her skin and he also took the time to know the stories on how she got certain scars. He knows the one above her eye brow is from the time a kid pushed her down on the playground and she fell face first onto the pavement. She had told him that a piece of glass was imbedded and she had to go to the hospital to get it out. He ends up finding another one on her torso. "That's from getting my appendix out" She explains as she moves on top of him, the setting sun streaking in the room and glowing softly on her beautiful skin. His fingers then trail up to touch the birth mark under her left breast and she smiles softly and leans down to kiss him. He smiles into the kiss as his fingers keep wandering over every inch of her skin. He then finds another scar on her right thigh. This time, she is a little breathless when she answers. "Third grade" She breaths, he knows she is close. "Faulty jungle gym"

He smiles as he leans up, his hand slipping between her thigh and past that heart shaped beauty mark to where they are connected. She lets out a sharp gasp when his thumb circles the small cluster of nerves and finally lets go, a musical scream pouring out of her lips. He comes shortly after her and she stays on top of him, her face in his neck as she collects herself and then rolls off and pulling the comforter around them. It is silent in her room as she snuggled herself to his side, they have two more hours until her mom comes home. Jake had never been a cuddler before but that was because he never made love, he just fucked but this was Marley, everything changed when Marley came into his life.

"Why are you so fascinated with my body?" She finally asked and he smirked.

"Because," He stated. "I already know whats on the inside of you, know I want to know whats on the outside."

She giggles as he kisses the freckles on the shoulder. "Why?"

Jake took deep breath. "I figured that because I love you so much, I need to know everything about you."

Marley raised an eye brow. "That is the corniest thing I have ever heard." She proclaimed and Jake chuckled.

"I know and it's all your fault Marley Rose," He playfully accused. "You turned me into this"

She softly sighed and moved up to kiss him again. "Well, I am happy to know I am the girl who calmed the beast."

And Jake, well, he was happy to have found her. Marley Rose, his soulmate.


	14. Chapter 14

**My Heart is Jumping**

"McKinley High's Masquerade Dance!" Is what a bright red poster reads and Marley Rose rolls her eyes. Why did schools feel the need to press these events on the students and on Halloween night? It was obviously a trick to keep the kids of Lima off the street but sometimes adults where just plain stupid, kids would be on the street after the dance anyway and most of them will be high or drunk...or both. Marley sighed as she shook her head at the bright white letters, school dances where just popularity contest and nothing more. Plus, she had better things to do on Halloween night (that is if you count sitting at home and passing out candy). There was no way in hell she was attending some stupid Masquerade Dance.

"So are you going to that dance?"

Marley jumps at the voice of Jake Puckerman. She smiles as she turns around to face her best friend who was looking pretty bummed out, she figured it was Kitty. She had a knack of sucking the life out of people. "Nah, it's not really my scene." She shrugs. "I was just going to stay home and watch scary movies."

"I wish I could do that," He tells her as he scuff his foot on the tile. "Kitty is making me go, I was kinda hoping you would go so I would have a normal person around." and then he does that thing that she hates, he smiles and her heart flutters. "Can you please go, even for an hour and then fake sick so I can take you home?"

Marley laughed and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, I'll have to see if I can get a dress." Marley smiled as the bell rung. "So we should get going to glee, sit next to me?"

"I thought you would never ask"

~X~

So Sugar practically loses it when Marley tells her she is going to the dance. The girl actually drags her to her house and then forces her to try on the billions of dresses that she owns. Sugar has her own store in her closet and most of the stuff still has the price tag on it and she just sits and judges everything she tries on. Finally Sugar gives a gasp when she walks out in this white strapless dress that reached the top of her knee. Its pretty and there are real diamonds on the bust. Sugar stands up and walks circles around her before saying. "That's it, that is your dress."

The night of the dance comes around and she is over Sugar's house once again to get ready. Marley is not shocked to find out that Sugar has a stylist who she sicks on her. The man does nothing but complain about her split ends and her freckles. But when he gets done she barely recognizes the girl in the mirror with the flawless skin and red lips. Sugar looks up from her vanity as Marley closes her smokey eyes. "Wow," Sugar says as the stylist smiles from ear to ear. "Honey, if I played for the other team I would so want you." Marley gives a soft laugh as she examined her perfectly styled hair. "You look sexy, Jake isn't going to know what hit him."

The final touch comes when Sugar hands Marley her mask, she runs her fingers along the feathers and ringtones before putting it over her eyes. "Alright," Marley sighs as she smooths her dress. "Let's go to this dance."

~X~

Sugar ends up going to scow the dance floor for Sam so Marley just stands by the punch bowl and lets her eyes wander around the room. She spots Kitty first but smiles when she doesn't see Jake at her side. The evil cheerio is wearing a trashy red dress that actually makes her look like the devil and to make it even better, she is flirting with another guy that isn't Jake.

"These things are always so boring aren't they?"

Marley smiles at the voice because it belongs to none other than Jake. She turns around to see the McKinley bad boy spiking the punch bowl with whatever was in his flask. "It needs another kick." He says with a smile and Marley would have scolded him if she wasn't trying to hide her face. "My friend was supposed to show up but this really isn't her scene." He shrugs. "I should be hanging out with her and watching stupid horror movies." He then looks over at her and grins. "You know she is perfect, my friend." He gets this smile. "She doesn't push me to be some outstanding citzen...she lets me be me and I know that I should have made a move on her when it presented itself." Jake frowned. "But I was to scared and I think she may have trapped me into the friend zone." Jake gave a sigh and then looked at her again."Do I know you?"

Her eyes go wide and Jake shrugs. "Wait, that is the point of asking you that question." He smirks. "We are not supposed to know what is behind the mask," He rolls his eyes. "Stupid" and then takes a drink from his flask. His eyes fall to Kitty and the random guy that she is dancing with. "I broke up with her tonight" Marley's heart flutters. "I thought that by dating her she would leave my friend alone but that didn't help." His eyes narrow when he looks into her blue ones. "You wanna dance?"

Marley sucked in a breath at his confession and then licked her lips, now or never right? "I thought you would never ask."

Now it's his eyes that are going wide and his mouth hangs up as his eyes rake over her. "M-Marley?"

"Yeah," and then fear bubbles in her chest, what if he was mad at her for doing this? But then he gets that smile that he only saves for her and removes her mask.

"You look beautiful" He murmurs and her face heats up. "But I prefer you without the makeup, you don't need that stuff."

She laughed. "Oh you are so smooth," She smirks. "But I'm only wearing it for tonight, it is Halloween after all." They share a smile and he pulls her out onto the dance floor, and all eyes where on them. Out of the corner of her eyes she see's Kitty huff and roll her eyes but then Jake cups her cheek and brings his lips to hers.

Maybe school dances were not so bad after all.


	15. Chapter 15

And its Warm and Real and Bright

Marley had seen many versions of Jake Puckerman. She had seen him when he was mad or upset, she had seen him laugh and cry, she had seen him at his best and at his worst. Marley had seen many different moods of Jake but she had never seen this one.

Lima was having their Founder's Festival and Marley had decided to go to check it out, she spent most of her time walking up and down the rows and rows of vendors and admiring the changing leaves. She is almost at the end of the stands when she hears the soft melody of a guitar, she looks up to see Jake Puckerman and he is not trying to get some girl but instead he is singing to children. She smiled to herself as she walked closer, listening to his version of 'You Got a Friend in Me' and was about to get away with stalking when she is busted by a little boy with dirty blonde curls and grey eyes.

"Hi Lady!" He squeaks, the word 'lady' sounding more like 'wady'. Marley smiled at the child and kept that smile on her face when Jake turned around, beaming at her.

"What's up buttercup." He greets and then moves over on the bench as the kids laugh. "You wanna offer your voice to these kids?" He winks to the little girls. "She was the one I was telling you about."

Marley laughs as one little girl's eyes go wide. "You're the princess," She gasps "Jake says you are a better singer then Papunzal"

"Well I don't think I'm better then Rapunzal" Marley explained as she sat down on the bench next to Jake. "I think Jake might be fibbing"

The kids get silent and look at each other when a little girl with dark curls and bright brown eyes speaks up. "Well Jake was right when he said that you where pretty like a princess." And Marley turns red as Jake throws his head back and laughs.

"Well don't scare her off guys," Jake scolds and the kids all panic. "I'm sure if we are nice, she will sing for us." He looked at Marley. "What do you say Princess?"

She playfully eyes the kids. "I don't know, I have a song in mind but I need someone to sing it with me. What do you say Jake?"

Jake nods as he tunes the strings on his guitar. "What do you have in mind?" He asks and she leans over and whispers the song choice in his ear. "Oh I know that one" And starts to play the opening, some of the little girls squealed almost instantly and Marley begins to sing and the kids get quite and Jake once again gets his breath taken away.

_"All those days, watching from the windows/all those years, outside looking in/All that time, never even knowing/Just have blind I've been" _They are now gaining a pretty big crowd as Marley sings her heart out and Jake has to remember to stay focused and wait from his part. But as the crowd grows the more nervous he gets at their close proximity, it was like the day on the bleachers all over again.

Finally he joins in and Marley smiles as he sings, her eyes just digging into his. "_All those days, chasing down a daydream/all those years, living in a blur/all that time, never really seeing things they way they were/now she's here, shining in the star light/ now she's here, suddenly I know." _

He sings a few more words before their voices blend together once more, creating that perfect harmony. "_And at last I see the light/ and it's like the fog has lifted/and at last I see the light/and its like the sky is new." _They smiled at each other, their faces so close to each other as they forgot about their audience. "_And it's warm and real and bright/and the world has some how shifted/ all at once everything is different, now that I see you." _Jake's eyes flick down to her lips and they finish the song. _"Now that I see you."_

He is so close to kissing her when the sound of clapping and cheering makes them both jump away from each other, they are both red in the face as they look at the crowd of forty people. The little girl with blonde curls smiles at the two of them.

"You where just like Papunzal and Flynn!" She exclaims. "Are you gonna kiss her or what Jake?" she demands as she puts her hands on her hips.

Jake begins to stutter and Marley laughs before placing a soft, quick kiss on his lips. He barely has time to register what happened because she is already pulling away and the little boys are ewwing as the little girls sighed. "Can you do that again?" he asks. "Cause I'm not sure if I really got it the first time."

She laughed and then shook her head. "You only get one per song"

He smirked and his eyes went wide in excitement. "So kids how about another song?"

The children all yelled yeah and Jake smirked at Marley. "But you are going to buy me lunch afterwards."

"Deal" Jake agreed and started the opening to 'Can You Feel The Love Tonight', hoping he would feel the love later on.


	16. Chapter 16

He knows she is nervous as they she lays up on the padded bed. The room they are in is dark and and the only thing that you can hear is Jake's foot nervously tapping on the ground. He looks up at her and smiles as she rubs her five month old baby belly. "Are you ok?" He whispers and she nods.

"Yeah, just nervous to see what we are having." Marley tells him. "You are going to love it no matter what right?" She asks unsurely and he knows why. The men in his family sorta have this reputation on bailing on their kids. He remembered the day Noah showed up at their door claiming he couldn't do it, raise the twins that Quinn had just given birth to. It was Marley who talked him into it, Marley had this gift of calming Puckerman men.

Jake nodded as he pulled the chair closer to her. "You know I will," he takes her hand. "I don't want to be like my dad."

They are going to be young parents. Marley is 20 and Jake is 21, he knows that the whole party thing is out of the question right now. Noah had said they passed the Puckerman curse, Jake had not gotten her pregnant in high school so he had guessed that was a win of some sort.

She nods, her confidence restored and the doctor walks in. "Hello Miss. Rose, how are you feeling today?"

"F-fine," Marley stutters and then nervously laughs. "Just a little anxious I guess."

Dr. Wilson smiles and looks at his charts. "Have you been eating Miss. Rose?" He asks and Jake knows he has to ask that but was he being real right now? Marley hadn't had a problem with her diet since sophomore year. But Marley gives a quick nodd and the doctor smiles. "Good, are you ready to find out what you two are having?"

They both manage to say yes at the same time and the doctor chuckles as he adds the blue gel to her tummy. He swivels around on his chair to turn the monitor on and places the prob on her stomach. The sound of a little heartbeat fills the once silent room and Jake's mouth goes dry as the image of his child appears on screen. The doctor gives a little ohs and ahs before turning them with a smile and saying.

"Congratulations, its a girl." Doctor Wilson nodded toward Jake. "You better get that pink paint ready."

~X~

So it turns out that Marley doesn't want a pink room so they end up painting it this lavender color. Well he does all the painting and Marley just sits in the white rocking chair singing to their daughter.

"Have you thought of any names?" Marley asked Jake and he turned from the half painted wall. "You said she should have a good, strong name."

Jake laughs. "Yeah, you said you wanted a unique name."

"You know, Unique was pretty bummed we are not naming her after her." Marley giggled. "She is kinda pissed at you."

He shrugs and then puts the paint brush down into the paint can. He then walked over to her and placed his hands on her seven month old baby belly. "I do have a name in mind." he explains and she raised her eyebrows. "Troian Grace Puckerman."

Marley bits her lip and then giggles, moving his hand to a different spot on her belly. "Well I like it" She muses as she presses his hand down, he smiles at the feeling of his daughter kicking. "And I think she does to."

~X~

So Torian decides she is going to be born the day New York has its biggest snow storm. He tries to hail a cab but every sane driver turns them down, so before he can hit said cab driver he spots a police cruiser.

And that was where Torian was born, in the back of a NYPD police cruiser. The cop ends up passing out so Jake ends up delivering her, an ambulance shows up twenty minutes later but Torian is well taken care of. She is wrapped in her mother's arms, fists clenched as she screamed at the world. Yeah, she is a Puckerman for sure.

~X~

He is sure that Torian is the most beautiful baby he has ever seen, her skin is this creamy olive color and she has a head full of dark hair. But what gets him the most, and his mom, and Marley's mom is that she has Marley's eyes. Those deep blue eyes that always got Jake in trouble.

"Oh boy" Mrs. Rose smiles as she holds her granddaughter. "You are going to have you daddy wrapped around your finger."

And Jake smiles because she already does.

~X~

Marley is the worlds best mother. Torian is breast fed which is awesome cause her boobs have grown so he wins there to. But whenever she feds, she sings. Torian is used to her mother's voice by now so her blue eyes flutter shut as Marley rocks on the rocker and sings.

She is also very over protective, like more then he is. Rachel comes over one day to see her and Marley forced hand sanitizer on her hands as she walked in and then made her wash her hands before touching her.

But Torian is a trooper, she gets though her first cold like know one's business. She had it for two days and then it was gone so Jake already knows she is a fighter like her mom.

~X~

These moments are his favorite moments. It's springtime in New York city and instead of walking about the city the newly wed Puckerman and their 3 month old daughter are laying in bed. Torian is asleep on his chest, her mop of brown curls poofed out and Marley was snuggled at his side with her pink lips parted as she snored.

Jake smiled to himself, this is was paradise, and this was what if felt like to be complete.

A/N- Yeah ik I used the PLL actress's name, but it is one of my favorites so I used it.


	17. Chapter 17

Lips that Feel like an Inside of a Rose

Have you ever had one of those dreams that feel so real that when you wake up you think it actually happened? Well Jake Puckerman has had a lot of them lucky and they have always included the one and only Marley Rose. Sure, he should be dreaming about Kitty but Kitty was not remotely as beautiful as Marley...and if he dreamed about Kitty they were nightmares.

But now he wasn't sure if he was awake or asleep because right in front of him stood a very naked Marley Rose as she showered in the locker room. He had ran in to avoid Kitty's goons from beating the shit out of him, he had just broken up with her and she sent her 5 jocks after him, so he took his escape into the girls locker room. So that's why he was standing there, his eyes raking up and down Marley's bare skin. She was like...one of those Greek goddesses...what was her name, Aphrodite? Jake nodded, yup that was the one he was thinking about. He gulped as he watched the droplets of water slid off her skin like diamonds and his eyes roamed down the flare of her waist and to her perfectly toned legs. But then the water turned off and she ringed out her long hair; the voice in Jake's head was telling him to leave but his legs where frozen to the ground. She turns, around with her eyes closed and Jake's eyes widen because now he is seeing her front and holy shit is it better than it was in his dreams. She hums softly as she grabs a white towel and wraps it around herself, her blue orbs slowly opening and then going wide in shock.

"Jake?" She asks breathlessly and he nods stupidly, her shock turns to anger. "What the hell are you doing in the girl's locker room?"

"I uh-" He stutters. "Um...I...well" Oh nice, he was squeaking now.

Marley's eyes narrow. "Where you watching me?" She demands and then her eyes go wide when they spot the promint buldge that he was trying to hide. "You pervert, you where watching me."

"Well yeah um," He shakes his head, getting the cobwebs out. "I...I didn't mean to but you where just there and I was trying to get away from Kitty's bodygaurds cause I broke up with her and you where in here showering and...you look so much better then you do in my dreams." Wait, did he just say that out loud, during his ramble. "Oh shit" Part of him wants to run away and dig himself a hole to lay in, but another part of him wants to push her against that tile wall and have his way with her.

She blushes so fiercely at this confession that her whole body is red and she blinks rapidly. "W-what?" She asks as he stalks over to her like a tiger cornering his prey.

"I'm saying that everything about you drives me crazy," He now has her backed into the wet tile wall. "I think about you all the time," He murmurs as he places his hands on her towel covered waist. "Do you even know how fucking beautiful you are?" he asks as his lips kiss her neck. "So beautiful."

Marley took in a breathy sigh because she had never heard him call a girl beautiful, she heard him call them sexy or smoking or hot but never beautiful. "I've never heard you say that before" and his lips pull away from her neck their noses touch as he smiles at her, honesty in his eyes.

"I have never met a girl that was actually beautiful, until you came along" He tells her as his breath fans across her lips. "But then I met you and that changed, no other girl has ever done that to me.

And just like that, he closed the distance between them as he kissed her lips softly. The kiss they shared became passionate quickly as his tongue slid into her mouth and tangled with hers. He didn't fight her for dominance and he didn't bite her lip, this kiss was something different, something he had never experienced before…it was…it was right. He felt like Marley Rose's rose colored lips where made for him and just him. She pulled away after a while, needing breath and his hands moved toward her towel. Marley shook her head and then smiled at his pout. "Not in here Jake, not now."

He chuckled, he honestly did want that but Marley was not the type of girl to be fucked in the school's locker room. She deserved to be made love to, maybe on a nicely made bed with candles or on a blanket in front of a warm fire, right next to a Christmas tree. "Fine, he said but let his hands run up and down her thighs. "But you gotta help me get out of here."

"Alright," She agreed as she stepped by him. "Just let me get dressed first." She quickly whipped her head around. "But no peeking!"

Jake smirked, like he could control that urge.


	18. Chapter 18

I Will Be Your Guardian

Kitty somehow talks him into going to breadsticks after the homecoming game…well that's what he makes himself believe but he is really going because he saw Marley leave with Sam Evans and a strange bubble of jealously erupted in his chest. He saw them sitting at a table with Brittany and Santana, Marley was laughing with her head thrown back as Sam did some stupid impression. Santana of course had chucked a sugar packet at him and he stopped quickly. They were about to sit at their own table when stupid freakin' Sam spotted him and invited them over. Jake was all against sitting with them but for some strange reason Kitty agreed, there is a strange smile on her face…almost like a sneer as she sits down at the table, directly across from Marley and Sam. He gets this bad feeling in his gut because only moments before Marley had confronted him about Kitty.

"I don't like that Kitty girl," is what she said. "I can't believe you do"

And as they sat across from them, he knew that Kitty had heard it and was planning something. He ignored the conversations going around him as he kept an eye on everything going on in breadsticks. His eye brows frowned, where were Kitty's goons?

Then his eyes go wide because he sees them coming up behind Marley, with buckets of something in each of their hands. He stands up quickly, knocking his soda onto Kitty's lap and since he can't stop the stupid Jocks, he stands in front of Marley. He quickly wraps his arms around her, acting as a human shield as a smelly, warm substance coats his back. A few people scream and some laugh, Jake take a chance to look up and see the people at his table watching with a dropped jaw. Kitty looks pissed as her eyes narrows and he can fell Marley shaking in his arms. "Hell no," He hears Santana say. "Did you plan this 40 year old cheerleader?"

"It wasn't meant for him," Kitty snaps. "It was meant for her."

Jake slowly lets go of Marley and backs up, the warm substance dripping down his back and onto the floor. Marley turns around to look at him and he sighs in relief to see that there was nothing on her. So then he lets his anger loose. "What the hell is wrong with you" he snaps at Kitty and her eyes go wide in fear. "You went too far; get the hell out of my sight." And she doesn't move. "Now!" He roars and she jumps from her chair."

"And you can leave his jacket." Santana puts in and when Kitty doesn't, Santana gets up from her seat and reaches her hand out. "Take it off or you will feel the wrath of snix." She takes it off quickly and hands it to Santana. "You can leave now."

When Kitty and her goons left Marley got up from her chair, avoiding the puddle of slop and walked over to him. He tried his best to smile but all he really wanted to do was throw up. "Please tell me this isn't crap"

Marley shakes her head. "No its compost," She said as she picked an apple peel off his shoulder.

"That has shit in it" Santana pipes up and Sam nudges her. "But it's animal so it's ok"

Jake rolls his eyes. "Thanks Santana." And Santana nodded as she and Sam dished out money to pay for their meal, their appetite gone. "Are you ok Marley?" he reaches out to rub the only spot of the waste that hit her arm. "I'm sorry about that."

"Thanks to you." She smiles. "And don't be sorry, it's not your fault."

"Can you two stop making goo-goo eyes for a minute so we can get out of here!" Santana snaps. "I don't want to be banned from Breadsticks forever."

The two teens blush and follow the older ones out of the restaurant. Sam gives Jake a ride but he has to sit in the tailgate of his truck. They drop Marley off first and she hops out of the passenger side and makes her way over to the tailgate. "Thank you again," She tells Jake and leans up, grapping his chin as she presses a kiss to his cheek. "Call me after you showered, we need to talk."

"Y-yeah…ok" He says sputters and she gives him one finale smile as she runs up the stairs to her mobile home and walks in, the porch light going on after she gets in.

"Dude, you got the sting" He hears Sam chuckle. "You got it bad."

He didn't need Sam to tell him_ that_, Jake already new that he was crazy for Marley.


	19. Chapter 19

Hear the Ghosts in Moon Light

Go to the haunted elementary school they said, it would be fun they said. At the moment, Marley Rose seriously hated her friends in glee club. They had taken on some stupid dare that they wouldn't last a night in the old school that had a creepy past but they did so that was why Marley was wandering the halls of the old school building. The group had spit up and she was left alone to her own devises as jumped at every little creak the floors made.

She had played Silent Hill, she knew what happened when a floor creaked. So she began walking faster, her flash light flickering. Well shit, this was the end for her wasn't it? Soon the monsters where going to come out and kill her and she was going to be no more. Then, of all things, a hand reached out and pulled her into an empty class room. She let out a scream, fearing the worst and then elbowed her captor in the stomach. The groan is what made her turn around.

"Jake?" she asked and then flashed the light over his face, he actually had tears in his eyes. "Well serves you right!" she hollered. "What is wrong with you?"

He took a minute to collect his bearings and he stood up straight. "I heard you were walking around here alone and I came to find you." A cold breeze blew through the room. "Do you even know what happened here?"

Marley shook her head no and Jake chuckled. "I just heard it was haunted, what's so funny."

"You are walking around this place alone and you didn't even know what happened." He grabbed two wooden chairs and sat her down on one of them. "Let me educate you," He said with a smirk and Marley rolled her eyes. "This was a catholic school back in the 1950's, an all-girls school. But just like in every school there where bullies that picked on people that were different. So there was this girl, Marlene Heart. She was a little shy, only fourteen years old but very smart for her age. She was raised by a single parent, a mom and Marlene was her mother's world. But the kids all teased her because she was poor and didn't have a dad. This other girl, Katrina Tassel teased Marlene at every chance she got. Honestly, Katrina was jealous of Marlene because Marlene was a very pretty child and very smart. But one day, the bullying went in the wrong direction and Katrina corned Marlene on that staircase." Jake explained as he pointed out the stair case right across the hallway. "For the first time, Marlene, stood up for herself and Katrina lost it." Jake took a deep breath. "Katrina pushed her over the railing and Marlene fell to her death."

Sighing, Marley stood up from her chair and shrugged her shoulders. "So what happened to Katrina?"

"They sent her away to the nut house or something, but if all the ghost stories are true Marlene still haunts this hallway and that stair case." Jake states and Marley shakes her head. "So you don't believe it?"

"I do, but wouldn't you think that Marlene would have moved on by now?" Marley asks and Jake shrugs. "I feel kinda bad for her I guess."

Jake gets off of his chair and smiles. "Well Marls, it's just a story ghosts are not real." And just as Jake said that, the sound of footsteps could be heard from the hallway. "It's the others, I told them to come looking for us." He lets her know as he goes to walk out of the classroom but then stops at the doorway. "Holy shit" he murmurs and Marley goes to investigate, her eyes go wide and she grips the back of Jake's shirt.

"Jake," She whispers because walking right past them is a fourteen year old girl in a catholic school uniform. She walks right by them, her long brown hair blowing behind her and some papers on the floor scatter on the floor.

"Someone is fucking with us," he mutters and starts going after the girl with Marley right at his feet. The girl finally stops at the end of the hallway and turns around to look at them; her skin is as pale as new fallen snow and her eye as blue as the sky. She parts her pink lips as if she was going to say something but all that comes out is cool air. Both teen suddenly notice the drop in temperature and the fact that they could see their breath. "This is real isn't it?"

Marley nodded slowly as the girl, Marlene, starred at them. "Why is she looking at us like that?" she noted as Marlene looked them over with sad eyes.

"I have no idea" Jake responded.

~X~

Over at Lima General, an elderly man Joseph Marian, took his final breath. The nurse that was sitting with him sighed as she stood up from her chair and took the paper he had earlier written in and placed it on the table, calling the time of death. The nurse took pity on the man who didn't have a family and let her curiosity take over as she picked up the piece of paper and read it.

In neat cursive it read:

_"I'm coming Marlene"_

The nurses' eyes watered up and she tucked the paper back in his hands before leaving the room

~X~

"Should we leave, will she let us leave?" Jake had asked and Marley shook her head. "Alright then what do we do?"

"I don't know," Marley whispered. "Let's just stand here until she vanishes"

"Oh yeah, that's smart!" Jake argues. "What horror movies have you seen?"

Marley goes to argue back when a bright blur flashes by them and they both turn to face Marlene again. An image begins to form next to her and once the brightness fades they see what it is. It is a teenage boy with olive colored skin and dark eyes. He smiles at Marlene and she smiles back, the ghost girl then starts to walk over to them. She reaches down and grabs their hands, interlocking them together. She then faces Marley and points to the classroom that they were once in. "Check my desk" Marlene speaks in a soft voice. "And never give up on him"

Marlene once again joins the ghost of the teenage boy again and grabs his hand. They both share a smile before fading away in a bright light. Jake and Marley shared a look before walking back into the classroom and finding Marlene's desk. With her hand still in his, Marley opens up the top and finds a notebook. "It's a diary" she whispers. "Marlene's diary"

"Jake…Marley!" The voice of Tina and Blaine bounce up and down the empty halls before entering the classroom. "C'mon, we are getting out of here."

~X~

Later that night, Jake is laying back against Marley's head board as she sits Indian style in the middle of the bed with the diary in her lap. "They were in love" She says after thirty minutes of reading. "Marlene and that other ghost, his name was Joseph and they were never allowed to see each other because she was white and he was black but they loved each other so much." Her eyes begin to water up. "The other girl, Katrina hated her because of it."

Jake sits up and gently takes the book out of her lap. "C'mere," he whispered and pulled her into his arms. "What's wrong?"

"They never got to be together," she explains, "she never got to live."

He frowns as he pulls her closer to him, she sighed as she snuggled into his chest. "Well nothing kept them apart, not even death." He rubs her shoulder. "They are together now and Marlene moved on, she is happy now."

Marley smiles as she fists her hand in his shirt. "I think you're right," She softly says as she makes herself comfortable. "She told me to never give up on you."

"Smart ghost" He chuckles and she looked up at him with a smile in her eyes. "A ghost knows how we feel about each other but for some reason we can't figure it out."

She rolls her eyes and for the first time kisses his lips. "I'm willing to take a chance if you are."

Jake smiled and leaned down to kiss her again. "I would take every single chance when it comes to you"

Marley smiled as they laid back into the bed, now this would be an interesting story to tell to their families.


	20. Chapter 20

I felt your heart so close to mine

It takes him a moment to processes that this was all actually real…and happening. That it is actually Marley laying beneath him and not a girl that he is picturing to be Marley. This is her skin that he is running his hands against, this is her sent he is smells, jasmine. It's so different from the strong Hollister perfume that most of the girls at McKinley wore. It was intoxicating; it drove him insane as he kissed the skin of her neck. He moved back up to kiss her lips and then gazed down at her body, her bare chest exposed to him for the first time. She is blinking quickly, a habit that she has when she is nervous. So he gives her another kiss and his fingertips ghost the warm mounds, his thumb rubbing her nipple. Her breath hitched as she arched into his touch, she had told him that she was a virgin and that she had never been touched before. Sure he had felt her up but that was over the bra, Marley was anything but a prude. She just had moral decency and she had expressed to him when they first started dating that she didn't want to rush into anything, so he respected her wishes and waited till she was ready. He did stay faithful to her the whole way through and tonight, she had come to his house to give him his birthday present, her.

Her sky colored eyes open back up again when her hands find his belt buckle, she gets it un-done with no problem and tugs his bottom lip between her teeth as she says. "Pants-off-now." She shucks then down to the top of his knees and he kicks them off, it was harder then he thought because she was too busy outlining his abdomen with her fingers. "You have a nice body Jake" she murmurs with wide eyes and he chuckles because it was so Marley like to say and Jake groans when she rubs her clothed covered wetness over his erection. "I'm ready" She whimpers as he sucks on her right nipple, the other being teased by this thumb. "So ready."

Jake actually finds himself nervous as he hooks his fingers into the waist band of her purple and white stripped boy shorts and pulls them down. She already got his boxers down so now it is just him and her, nothing in-between them. "Jesus, Marley." He mutters he leans up. "You are so god damn beautiful." She blushes at his words and he leans over to get a condom from his night stand.

"Can I put it on?" She asks as he tears the package. "I mean can I put it on you."

His jaw drops as he slowly nods and he hands her the condom. She sits up and wraps her hand around his length, giving it a squeeze before sliding the condom on. Marley smiles when she lies back down against his pillows and opens her legs for him, an open invitation. He moves himself between her legs and lined himself up against her entrance, teasing her wet folds with his tip. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asks and she kisses him again.

"Yes Jake," she whispers against his lips. "I'm sure cause it's you."

He smiled softly at her. "Alright baby, let me know if I hurt you." And he thrusts into her quickly and deeply, her walls covering his cock like a glove.

But oh boy does it hurt she stiffens up and cries out, tears spring from her eyes and she claws at his back. But Jake is gentle, he waits for her to get comfortable and her body relaxes as he kisses away her tears and he whispers meaningful I love you in her ear. Soon the pain turns into something more, something wonderful and she tells him to move. He starts the pace, gentle and deep and she catches on as they find their own rhythm. The sound of their love making fills the room and she comes with a scream that is almost as heavenly as her singing voice, he follows after and groans into her neck.

Afterwards her rolls off of her and disposes of the condom, he then turns to face her and finds himself counting the number of freckles on her face. "You know I read that most girls don't come during their first time." He smirks because he knows what she is trying to say. "I guess I am lucky to have you right?"

He chuckles and sweetly kisses her lips, proud to be the first (and hopefully) only person to give her an orgasm. "No baby," he says against her lips. "I am lucky to have found you."

It starts to snow as the two young lovers fall asleep in each other's arms. It's the perfect ending to the perfect birthday.


	21. Chapter 21

**Stubborn Love**

He hadn't seen her in months, nine months actually and those nine months of looking at blank white walls instead of her face, her eyes, her smile killed him. After his senior year of high school, he was sent away for the drugs. Rehab had been a bitch, well mostly withdraw had been a bitch at the point he figured death was better than withdrawing. Marley was so disappointed in him when she found out that he was using again and she ended it on the spot. She couldn't deal with it again, that's what she told him when he looked at her crystal eyes filled with tears. She told him in a broken voice that she was meant for better things then trying to get her boyfriend clean. He knew she was right but he was clean now and driving through the Holland tunnel, from Pennsylvania where his rehabilitation center was to New York, where she was. He had Santana on speaker phone as he drove, she sighed over the speaker.

"I don't know Jake, seeing her may not be the best thing for her or you." she explained. . "Trust me when I say that she is fine."

"Is she seeing someone else?" Jake asks as his car comes to a stop, there is traffic in his lane, there is always traffic in this damn tunnel.

"No, she hasn't seen anybody, no dates, nothing. She gets back from her classes, complains about her professors and starts her homework." Santana laughs "With that dog you got her at her feet at all times."

Jake gave a smile as traffic started to creep along. "I still need to see her, please Santana…I just need to know if it's still there. I still love her, so much and I need to know if she still feels the same way about me."

"Fine," Santana says, giving in. "She just got back from her classes." She is whispering now. "And not in a good mood…." There is a pause and he strains to hear Marley's voice. "Yeah Marls, Britt said she was getting take out."

"Alright," Santana breathed, getting back to her conversation with Jake "see you soon." Santana says and the line goes dead as traffic begins to move on faster. He would be seeing her very soon.

~G~

Santana is setting the table for dinner as Marley snoozes on the sofa with Rebel at her feet, that dog was the girl's shadow. She let out a breath as she put the water down to a simmer and looked up when there was a knock at the door. She took a deep breath, wiping her hands on her apron as she walked over and opened up the door.

"Jake" She said, looking the Puckerman up and down. "You look like…well you look like hell."

He gave a shrug. "Withdraw will do that to you Santana."

She was silent, pursing her lips as she turned her head to look into the apartment. "Listen, I'm going to tell you this once and only once. You break her heart again and not even the best protection program will be able to keep you safe from me."

Jake gives a chuckle. "Is she in there?" He asks, trying to look over her shoulder.

Santana nodded. "She is sleeping though." She explains. "Rough day in dance rehearsals…there is a girl there who's personality is worse than Kitty's."

"There is someone worse than Kitty?" Jake had to ask as Santana smiled.

"Apparently." She answered and stepped back so he could walk in. But he didn't walk in however. Instead he just stood there as she moved away, letting him see her for the first time in months. "I know it's hard Jake."

He didn't hear her, every sound and every object was out of his view. It was like he was in that tunnel again and his focus was on her. Laying on that red sofa with Rebel at her feet, the dog's head perks up when he walks into the apartment but she doesn't bark. Santana silently closes the door and walks off her another room, leaving them alone. So he sucks in a deep breath and then puts a hand on her shoulder. "Marley?" he whispered. She shifted a little, nuzzling her head into the couch, so he says her name a little louder. "Marley"

Her eyes slowly flutter open and with her clear blue eyes she stares at him, awe and shock written all over her face. "Jake?"

"Yeah" He breathes, waiting for her reaction. She is frozen as her eyes fill with tears, she reaches out and touches his face. It was like she was testing to see if this was real, if he was real. "It's ok Marley"

She bites her lip, nodding slowly and then letting out a ragged breath. "Are you…is everything…" She swallows. "Are you clean?"

"Nine months." He tells her hoarsely. "I-I've been clean for nine months."

Marley doesn't say anything as she sits up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Nine months? Have you met the baby?"

"T-the baby?" He asked his heart seizing, breaking her heart had made him feel horrible but leaving her with a baby? He couldn't think of a word that was worse than horrible. "What baby?"

She blinks. "Serena, Brittany and Santana's little girl …have you met her?"

Just like that all tension left his body. "No, no I haven't met her yet but listen Marley I'm here for you so can you take your focus off the baby and onto what I am about to tell you?"

She closes her eyes and nods. "Yeah sorry, I just didn't sleep last night." She moved down on the couch so Jake had enough room to sit down. "You never called or wrote to me."

"I know, what I wanted to tell you was something that I couldn't write in a letter or tell you over the phone." He took a deep breath. "The thing is Marley you are the most stubborn girl I have ever met. It me a whole year to get you to go out with me and when I finally got you I never wanted to let you go. I cleaned up my act for you and dropped the attitude." He smiled. "I even got you to turn to the wild side a little huh?" She blushed a little and rolled her eyes. "Hey you enjoyed that motorcycle ride." He moved forward and grabbed her hand. "Th-the reason I started using again…I started using because my step-dad reminded me that I would become nothing, that you would move away and leave me in that sorry ass town. He said that I should start 'working' for him again and….God Marley I am so sorry things just spiraled out of control and I thought you were going to just leave me. I didn't know who I was before I met you and I feel so numb without you. I-I know now that I can be anything I want and I know that we broke up but I was hoping we could fix things." He watched her carefully, trying to read her face. "I'll understand if you don't want to but-"

She shook her head and grabbed his face. "Jake listen to me, what we had was very special and I think we with time we can fix it." She was looking right through him again, he could never keep anything from her. "I just need to know that you are the Jake that I fell in love with." She says that so softly.

"Yeah" He whispers hoarsely. "I'm back for good."

Marley smiled, looking at him from under her eyelashes and then scooted closer to him. "Ok" She says. "We need to take baby steps though" and then wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a warm hug.

Jake nodded against her, catching the scent of her hair, like fresh spring flowers. "Baby steps?" he murmurs into her neck, making her shiver like old times.

"Yes," She breaths and then threads her fingers through his hair, he needed it cut. "Some kids are fast learners." Marley explains and then pulls back. "I just missed you so much."

"I missed you to baby" He tells her and brings her back to him, their lips only inches apart. "So much" Jake confesses and kisses her pink lips.

He was finally whole again


	22. Chapter 22

Prompt- The glee club notice the tension between Jake and Marley and decide to do something about it

Don't Try To Hide It

Tina notices is the first one to notice when Marley gets up to sing 'Everytime'. The senior watches carefully as Marley avoids eye contact with everyone but every once and a while she looks at Jake and Jake shrinks down in his chair a little. Tina sighs and rolls her eyes, after everything she and Unique had done to keep Marley away from him the girl had managed to get sucked in.

The two sophomores finally made eye contact and Tina shook her head, it was like a viscous cycle.

The next Glee Club member to notice it is Blaine, he decides to get to glee club five minutes early and finds Marley and Jake sitting next to each other. They both have smiles as wide as the crescent moon on their faces as Jake teaches her some chords on his guitar. Blaine stands back against the door frame and smiles at them because it is as adorable as one of those cheesy rom-coms. But then their private jam session abruptly when Finn walks in and announces his presence along with Blaine's and the two teens jump away like there was a fire. Blaine sighs and rolls his eyes and sits behind them, watching them carefully during the class.

Sam notices it as well. He was walking to his locker when he saw Marley struggling with her books, he went to help her but Jake cut in. Sam chuckled as Jake took her school back and walked a few steps behind them and listened to the way they talked to each other, it was flirting but it was something more than just flirting. He noticed how close they walked with their hands brushing every once in a while. He smirks to himself when they turned the corner. Here they go again.

Artie and Sugar see it together during dance practice. Artie and Sugar had decided to sit out and watch the others learn the steps for the Christmas showcase. Jake and Marley mess up almost every single time and they both end up in fits of giggles and he wraps his arms around her as the others dance around them and he dips her at random points. Artie and Sugar shared a knowing look, "I'll give them a few weeks." Artie comments and Sugar swats his arm playfully.

"I'll give it a few more days" She puts in with a laugh as they watch Quinn and Rachel scold the two about messing up the dance.

~X~

"What is going on between Jake and Marley?"

It's a few weeks before winter break when Finn comes into the choir room. Everyone starts bursting into laughter and Unique rolls her eyes. "You don't see it do you?" she asks and Finn gives a shrug. "Really?"

"They are crazy for each other." Tina tells them as Sam nods along. "They have been doing this…well same song and dance since September."

Sugar nods. "Yeah, Artie and I have tried to talk them into going on a double date with us but they insisting they are not dating." She shrugs. "It's pretty obvious that they have feelings for each other."

"Not to them though," Brittany explains.

Blaine steps up and gives a smirk. "Well maybe we should make them see it."

"And how do you suggest we do that?" Finn asked and then it hits him. "You guys want to serenade them don't you?"

The glee club nods and Finn sighs. "Then we will do it the best way we know how to." And then smirks at Blaine, Sam and Artie. "Disney"

~X~

They have something planned for the next day, Blaine had divided up the solos and Artie assembles the jazz band. Brittany came running into the choir room as they were practicing scales. "They are in the gym on the bleachers!" She exclaims. "C'mon let's do this," She goes to turn around but then stops. "Oh and their couple name…Jarley." She smiled. "It's staying cause I was up all night figuring out."

"I liked Puckerrose!" Blaine complained and then backed off when Brittany gave him a look. "Fine, Jarley it is."

So the glee club along with the jazz band slowly sneak into the gym, turning on the sound the system as the band readies their instruments. "You guys ready?" Blaine whispers and everyone nods so he smiles and begins singing the song.

_"Percussion, Strings, Words/ There you see her, sitting there across the way/ she don't got a lot to say but there's something about her/ And you don't know why but you dying to try/ you wanna kiss the girl/"_

Jake and Marley look up quickly and looks around the gym, it wasn't until the glee club walked out from under the bleachers do they really know what's going on. But Blaine keeps on singing as Tina joins in with smiles on their faces.

_"Yes you want her/ look at her you know you do/ possible she want's you too/ there is one way to ask her/ It don't take a word not a single word go on and kiss the girl." _

By now they are on the bleachers with them and Marley laughs as Sam tries to nudge Jake closer to her. The last few chords of the song is played and Sam and Brittany sing the finale verse. _"You gotta kiss the girl/why don't you kiss the girl/ you gotta kiss the girl/ go on and kiss the girl."_

And as the final verse is sung Jake moved in to kiss her, a few yes's and I told you so's are heard from the glee club. It starts to get awkward when they don't pull away from each other so they leave as Sugar exclaims that she won the bet. Once Jake and Marley hear the door shut they laugh and pull away after a few extra kisses. "You wanna explain to me what just happed?" He asked as he nuzzled his nose against hers.

Marley purses her lips and smiles. "That is the glee club for you, they ship their own memembers."


	23. Chapter 23

Marley loved Halloween, it was the only holiday she could let her imagination take over. On Halloween, she could be anyone or anything she wanted to. It was also the holiday that had nothing to do with family, she remembered her last Halloween with her dad. She was seven and he took her costume shopping, she remembered that she picked out the belle costume. She remembered trying on the costume at the store and her daddy telling her how pretty she looked in it. Afterwards he had taken her to get ice cream (pumpkin of course) and a random lady had joined them. The woman was blond and pretty but young, 20, she was 20. Her daddy had told her that he was leaving mommy and this lady, Meredith, was going to be her new mommy.

Well Marley Rose lost it, she did something she never did in her seven years of life, she must have scared Meredith and honestly she wanted her to be scared of her. She remembered that her dad had actually hit her to get her to stop and then grabbed her arm and took her home. He left the next day and Marley tore her costume to shreds. She and her mom made on instead, it was Belle's blue dress and Marley loved it because under those stunning golden fabrics was still that small town girl.

"Marley?"

Marley blinked her eyes and then looked over at five year old Mason, her neighbor's kid that she was babysitting. They were both sitting on the front step of Marley's mobile home with two pumpkins sitting in front of them.

"Are we going to carve these or not?" The five year old asks and Marley smiles.

"Yeah, sorry I zoned out on you kid." She picked up the carving knife and began to take the top off, once it was free she pulled it off and both her and Mason made ewwing sounds.

Mason laughed. "Ewwww, that's guts!"

"No," Marley said, faking a Transylvanian accent. "That is his brrraaaaiiiiinnnnssss" Her eyes went wide and her Dracula accent turned into a zombie voice.

The kid began to laugh fits of pure belly laughter and rolled his eyes as he stuck his tongue out to the side. "Brrraaaiiiiinnnnssss" He repeated and put his arms out like a zombie. Marley laughed along before scraping the dangling seeds from the top and onto a piece of tin foil. She would pick them out and roast them later.

"Alright kiddo ready to take his guts out?" Marley asked, her voice not faking the excitement. She was so excited that she didn't even see or hear the bystander they gained.

"Carving a pumpkin I see?" She looks up from the pumpkin to see Jake Puckerman standing at the foot of the steps. His hands are in is pockets and he is smiling that 10 thousand watt smile and there is that glint in his dark eyes that gives Marley butterflies.

Mason's brown eyes go wide with excitement. "No!" he exclaims, his imagination getting the best of him "Doctor Marlystien and me, her trusty side kick Masongor are creating the pumpkinstien monster!" He fakes a spooky voice then does an evil laugh.

Jake throws his head back and laughs as Marley's face grows red. "Well, what happened to maturity?"

Marley smirked and raised an eyebrow. "There is no maturity in pumpkin carving." She deadpans knowingly and this makes Jake laugh harder. "You know it is the truth."

"I wouldn't know," Jake says with a shrug. "I have never carved a pumpkin"

Mason and Marley's jaw dropped and they looked at each other. "Oh you poor thing," Marley sighed and then looked at Mason. "Scootch  
munchkin," she said and he moved over a little which allowed her to move and she patted the spot that was on the other side of the pumpkin. "C'mon over and join us."

"Yeah," Mason chimed in. "You can take the guts out."

"Guts?" Jake asked with a raised eyebrow.

Marley rolled her eyes. "Just come over here and stick your hand in the pumpkin."

He chuckled and then took a seat on the other side of the pumpkin, across from Marley. He took of his leather jacket and put it over the railing and rolled his sleeve up before putting his hand into the pumpkin. "Ew," he smiled a huge grin and pulled out some of the pumpkin 'guts'. Marley laughed along with him and took the pulp from his hands, her fingers brushing against his palm that sent sparks through their bodies. "Wh-what do you do with those seeds?" Jake asks, trying to hide the fact that his heart was racing a mile a minute from a little touch.

"Oh, we roast them afterword's and then we are going to watch Hocus Pocus." She playfully rolls her eyes. "Please tell me you have seen that."

"Tis a movie that I know." He said as he stuck his nose up in the air. "Shall we take the soul of this child as well?"

Mason's eyes went wide and then he scrunched up his nose. "You can't have my soul," He then turned to Marley. "He is kidding right?"

"Yes he is kidding Mas," She nudged him and then wrapped her one arm around him. "But don't you worry, I will protect you."

The rest of the pumpkin carving was interesting say the least, when they were not occasionally brushing hands Jake was throwing pumpkin insides at her and Mason and Mason began running around the front yard pretending to be a vampire. But once they are inside, sitting on the sofa with a bowl full of roasted pumpkin seeds and blankets wrapped around them as cider sat at their feet as the movie played on the TV, Jake whispered something in here ear.

"You put a spell on me, and now I'm yours."

Marley smiled and laid her head on his shoulder as Mason snuggled up to her side, it was the best Saturday afternoon a girl could ask for.


	24. Chapter 24

These Precious Moments

She ends up having to stay at the radio station for longer then she hoped. Twenty five year old Marley had called her husband of five years to make sure that he had picked the girls up from daycare and put dinner on the table. Jake was an amazing husband and father but he failed badly at cleaning up after himself. So she closed her eyes as she sat in the cab, mentally preparing herself for the mess that she would face when she walked into the door of their Manhattan town house.

She smiled at the cab driver as she paid the fare. "Have a good night," She offers as she walks up the concert stairs and puts her key in the lock. She quietly opened up the front door and slipped in, their dog Rebel, greeting her instantly. "Hey Rebs," She whispered as she went to pet the mutt, wincing at the sight of ketchup in her fur. "Rough night?"

The dog whined and then ran up the stairs. "I guess that is a yes" She mumbled as she walked into the living room, dropping everything in her hands at the sight of it. Little hand prints littered the walls and her frown was set in place when she figured out what it was…her make up. She let out a defeated sigh when she turned to her husband who was fast asleep on the sofa, his face covered in her make up. "Jake!" She whispered as she kicked the sofa. "Jake wake up!"

Jake shot up from a snort and looked around the room wildly. It took every ounce of her to hold in the laughter that was threatening to escape her lips. She had to remember, she was pissed. "Hey baby!" He greeted and that was it for her, she held her four month baby belly as she doubled over in laughter at his dark purple eye lids and his bright red lips. "What, is everything ok."

"Go take a look at yourself in the mirror." She giggled.

Mumbling, Jake stood up and walked over to the mirror over the fire place. As soon as he saw himself he screamed and Marley laughed a little harder, hearing the pitter patter of little feet above them only made it better.

"Vivian Grace Puckerman! Elise Marie Puckerman!" He shouted "Get down here now!"

In a matter of two minutes, four year old Vivian was standing in front of them. Her dark brown eyes cast down to the floor as two year old Elise yelled. "C'monin' daddy!" Once Elise was down the stairs she looked up at her mother and father with her mischievous blue eyes and said. "You look pretty daddy."

Marley did her best to hide her smile and she knew Jake was about to give in to. "Thank you Elise," He said with a shaky breath. "Can I ask why you decided to put Mommy's make up on me"

"Well," Vivian started as she shrugged her shoulders. "Mommy never uses these colors and they look pretty on Aunt Unquie so we thought they would look pretty on you."

"They do look veeerrryyyy pretty on you daddy." Elise adds in and Marley had to muffle her laughter.

"Well boys aren't supposed to wear makeup." Jake tells them and two little frowns are set on their faces and he looks over at Marley who shakes her head. "But they can if they want."

"That's right daddy!" Elise exclaims

Vivian nods. "Yeah, you should know better."

Jake gives a defeated sigh. "Well at least they didn't cut my hair…or each other's." He looked over at Marley. "I am going to wash this stuff off."

"I'll help you daddy!" Elise says as she raises her fist.

"Yeah and I'll help you get that stuff your face," He picked Elise up with a groan and then said. "C'mon chuckles the clown, let's get those red lipstick off your face."

"I'm not a clown daddy!" Marley can hear Elise yell. "I am Selena Gomez!"

Marley shook her head and looked down at her eldest daughter. "Why didn't you put any makeup on?"

Vivian shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know…I like the way I look mama."

Marley smiled and engulfed her daughter in a hug. "That's the kind of attitude you need to keep."

"Don't worry mama, I'll never change." Vivian promised and Marley hoped to god that would be true.

~X~

Later, after they cleaned the walls and put the girls to sleep, Jake and Marley where cuddled in their bed and his hands where on her swollen belly. "Please, please, please be a boy." He whispered on the bare skin of her belly. "There are too many women in this house, so please be a boy!"

"The Puckerman curse" Marley reminded him and he chuckled as he moved back up to her, kissing her lips. "Your brother and Quinn have four girls." She smiled. "Remember that."

Jake frowned. "Good point, and if we had a boy I would have to share you with another guy." He put his hands on her belly. "So it better be another girl."

They are silent for a while before Jake mentions. "Puberty is going to be a bitch though."

Marley laughed. "Baby we have a few more years left to prepare for that," She pauses. "I'll make sure we are taking our second honey moon when that comes along."

"Sounds like a plan babe." Jake said and turned off the lights.

If you were to tell a sixteen year old Jake Puckerman that he would be married at twenty with a baby on a way, he would have laughed in your face. But now, the twenty five year old wouldn't have it any other way.


	25. Chapter 25

As the World turns

_"I don't need you to give me my freedom I am a grown woman!"_

Marley stopped right in her tracks when she pushed open the door of the auditorium. She got a small peak at whatever was going on in there. It was that guy Finn and some girl on the stage, she was yelling at him about something. Marley wasn't a nosy person so she turned around and waited against the wall, ignoring the muffled speaking. Finally the girl walked out, her eyes red and puffy as she almost mowed Marley down.

"Oh I'm sorry," She sniffed. "I didn't see you there."

She blinked, wait what? Was someone actually apologizing to her? "Uh, it's ok?"

The girl gives a watery laugh. "Oh I get it, you are not used to people actually being decent." She gave as sad smile. "Don't worry, its gets better." She wipes her eyes and then shrugs. "You just need to find your place you know."

Marley smiles because she has already found she belongs. "I think I already found it" she explains and then looks up at her name being called. It was Jake and he was waiting for her so they could leave, she was going to help him with his history homework. He did nothing but sleep in that class, no wonder he was failing. "I got to go," She tells her. "I'm Marley by the way."

"Rachel Berry" She said and Marley smiled a shy smile. "It was nice meeting you Marley."

She gave a quick nod before walking off. "Oh and Rachel," Marley stops and turns back around to face her. "I already found my place" She looked past her and at the doors of the auditorium. "It's on that stage where no one can touch me."

Rachel smiles back because she knows that feeling all too well. She watched as the girl walked over to the boy with the leather jacket, a smile forming on his face when she reached his side. She watched for any movement that would tell her that they were a couple but there was nothing. Though the way he smiled at her and she smiled at him screamed something, it screamed that they were in love and had no idea. She sighed as she watched them leave and the crossed her arms and doing the same. She had a good feeling that someday, Marley would be more than an invisible girl in the hallway and maybe that boy would help her discover that.


	26. Chapter 26

Words of Wisdom

"I need to ask though" Puck starts before he walks out of the choir room. "What where you just fighting about?"

Jake looks him up and down, what was he physic or something. "How did you know I was fighting someone."

Puck laughs and then folds his arms. "Dude, you got the 'Puckerman look of rage' at least that is what I call it." He smirks. "So who and why where you fighting?"

Jake sighs and looks up at the ceiling and then toward the white board. "Just a couple of assholes in the lunch room."

"Assholes in the lunch room, what did they do? Steal the tots?" Puck asks with the same cocky attitude.

But the look on Jake's face turns to one of pure annoyance. "No, Jesus do you think I am that stupid?" A beat. "It was about a girl."

"It's always about a girl." Puck says with a shrug. "So what did they do, hit on your girl?"

Jake shook his head no. "They were making fun of her mom and they wouldn't say sorry so I just…got really pissed off about it. Marley doesn't derserve that kind of shit you know?"

"So her name is Marley?" Puck says as he sits on the piano bench. "Cute name, is she hot?"

Jake blinks and sits down on a chair. "She's beautiful."

There is a long moment of silence before Puck stands up again. "Well, you defended her honor so you are in her good graces." Puck looks at his little brother's confused face. "Don't worry, she won't be mad at you." He scoffs. "If anything she would be good for you"

He turns to leave but not without offering him this. "Dude, just a word of adivce. Do not get her pregnant, you understand? They go crazy after a Puckerman knocks them up. So rememeber, no glove no love."

Puck leaves after those words of wisdom and Jake feels a smile forming onto his face. He was right, Marley would be good for him.


	27. Chapter 27

Mama's Boy

"You'll be fine Marley." Jake chuckles as they walked up the steps to his house. "I don't know what you are freaking out about." He smirks at her. "She is just my mom, I mean your mom likes me so my mom is going to love you

Marley narrowed her eyes. "Of course my mom loves you, are the only kid in the school that is nice to her and you serve your dentations in the cafeteria so she had no choice."

"Listen to me Marley," Jake stops her and grabs her shoulders. "My mom is going to love you, you wanna know why?" She nods. "Because she told me herself when I talk about you that she is happy that I found a friend like you." He shrugs as he lets go of her. "She also likes that you get me out of trouble

"You talk about me?" Marley asks with a crooked smile and laughed when Jake's ears turned red. "Alright, let's do this."

Jake flashes the biggest smile and opens the door for her while announcing that they were home. Marley looks around the mobile home that is a bit bigger then hers and then smiles when an African American woman walks out of one of the bed rooms, fixing an earring as she walked over to them. "Ah there's my boy." She said as she pulled him in a hug and then stepped back. "Good, no black eyes mean no fights." She then turned to Marley and smiled, yeah, Jake got his smile from his mom. "And you must be the infamous Marley Rose, you can call me Grace." And she hugged Marley. "Jake has told me so much about you." It's nice to connect the face to the name." She then looked over at Jake. "Jake was right, you are very beautiful."

Jake laughed nervously as Marley blushed. "S-so is dinner ready?" Jake asked and his mom rolled her eyes.

"It is three thirty, do you really think I have dinner ready already?" She raises her eyebrows and Jake shrinks a little. "Why don't the two of you do your homework and it will be done by then."

He nodded quickly and turned around toward his room, Marley doing the same.

"And keep that door open!" She adds in. "Marley, you're very sweet but I do not want any grandbabies yet."

Jake had turned about 10 different shades of red after their five minute one sided conversation with his mom. With a sigh, he dumped his school bag onto his unmade bed and sat down. "I am so sorry" He said as he buried his face in his hands and Marley smiled.

"Aw, don't be." She said as she sat on his desk chair. "Your mom is so nice." He looked up at her with a confused face. "Now c'mon get that history book out so I can help you study…again." Jake sighed and did what he was told. "You got to stop sleeping in that class."

"Well Mrs. Hendrickson doesn't care." Jake protested and Marley rolled her eyes. "She is too busy drinking from the flask she keeps in her desk draw."

Marley shook her head and moved to the bed, opening up his text book to the assigned questions. "And try to do your own work please, drunk or not one of these days she is going to notice our answers are the same."

"Never gonna happen" Jake sing songs as he gets his own note book out and starts copying her answers, she looked up at him with narrowed eyes and he shrugged. "Hey, I do all of my other work in all my other classes."

She shook her head and gave a defeated sigh. "Only this one time."

"You are awesome babe" It slipped out so easily that he didn't even know he said it. Marley did though, her face blushed a faint pink and she smiled to herself.

~X~

About a half hour later, Jake's mom had called them for dinner and they sat down at the table that was covered with nice smelling foods. "Thanksgiving came early this year mom?" Jake asked as he poked at the cooked bird that sat on the table.

"That is a rotisserie chicken Jacob Michael and you better respect it." She said as she passed the mashed potatoes over. Jake chuckled as he shaved a piece off for himself and then another piece for Marley. She watched the exchanged with a smile on her face as she sat across from the two teenagers. "So Marley, you're in the glee club with Jake, he told me that you are an amazing singer."

"Well I- I mean yeah I mean I guess that I'm an ok singer." Marley meekly said as she took a bite of the chicken.

Jake shook his head. "She is just being modest, she is one of the best we got."

"And I'm sure Schue would have not given you two the duet for sectionals if he didn't think that you two where good together." She pointed her fork at them. "I ran into him at the market and he said that the chemistry is there. Now I see that he wasn't lying, what are you two singing?"

"We decided on 'Two is Better than One', I think that we could pull it off." Marley said with a smile and Jake nodded in agreement.

"Yeah we have been practicing it for weeks now and we have it under control but Finn keeps insisting we practice it every day until sectionals." Jake complains and Marley laughs. "But whatever I mean we are competing against some group called the unittards, how hard can it be?"

"From what I heard pretty hard." Marley cut in. "Their lead vocalist, Harmony, is really set on winning this year."

Jake shrugged and smiled at her as his mom listened to them. "Whatever, we can still knock them off their feet."

"Well I'm excited to hear the two of you, I hear Jake sing all the time." Grace said as she smiled at her son. "He wants to write music, did he ever tell you that?" his mom asks as she picks at her food. "You have some written already right?" She smiled proudly. "My boy has talent."

Marley raised her eyebrow. "Really I didn't know that," She glanced over at him, offering him a smile. "I would like to hear them someday."

"Maybe you will," Jake said with a smirk and went on to eating his meal.

~X~

After they were finished eating, Jake's mom ended up digging out some old pictures of Jake as a baby. As Marley and his mom awed and giggled at the photos, Jake cleaned the dishes and wished he was somewhere else.

"I don't know why you are embarrassed." Marley said as she looked at a picture of five year old Jake dressed as a power ranger. "You were such a cute kid."

"Wasn't he," His mom said, cutting in. "He was a mama's boy at best," She laughs. "Getting him to let go of my leg to get to school was the biggest challenge of my day." She looked over at Jake. "It still was until this year." She flipped the page. "He willingly goes to school now, I think you may be the cause of it Marley." She added that last part with a whisper as Jake curses about the hot water. "I wanted to thank you."

"For what?" Marley asked.

Grace sighed as she looked at the picture of a 13 year old Jake. "You see this boy right here that is my baby." She smiled as she closed the book, the pictures ending at that point. "When he was fourteen I lost my job and ended moving in with my dead beat boyfriend. Jake just turned into this angry child and I didn't know what he did to him. I broke up with him because I knew he was doing something and when moved into this trailer. Ever since then, Jake has always been angry and violent." Her frown soon turned into a smile. "But then he met you and you changed him Marley. He smiles more and talks to me, he laughs and barley gets into any fights." She smiled as she pushed the book onto the coffee table. "He has told me a million times that you two are just friends but a big part of me wants more for the two of you." She shrugged. "Maybe that is the mother in me"

Their little talk stops when Jake plops down on the other side of Marley. "What are you two girls talking about?"

"Your unhealthy obsession with the Red Ranger" His mom says with a laugh and the next thing Marley knows she is getting into a conversation about power rangers that is quickly turned into one about Pokémon, needless to say it was an good night.

~X~

Jake walks her home later on, the street is quite and shiny from the rain as the cool fall breeze blows. "So you had fun tonight?" He asks as he kicked a beer can off the side walk, only in Lima Heights.

She nodded. "Yeah, your mom is so down to earth." She shivered as the breeze cut through her hoodie. "She really loves you."

He gets this smile and moves closer to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and bringing her close in attempt to warm her up. "Yeah I know," He nods. "I want to make her proud you know."

"Yeah, I know the feeling." She agrees as they walk up to her mobile home, the porch light is on and Marley can see the tv flickering through the blinds. "Today, at dinner you said something about Thanksgiving…it is always me and my mom for Thanksgiving so I was thinking that maybe we could have it together."

Jake bit the inside of his lip and the nodded his head. "Yeah, that would be a great idea. Your mom will make pumkin pie right?" he asked with wide eyes and Marley laughed. "Then it's a deal, I'll run it by my mom."

"Alright," Marley said and the turned to face him. "Thanks again for tonight." She then wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a warm hug. That was something Jake wasn't used to so he took the time to get sucked into it and it only got better when she pulled back a little to place a feather light kiss on his lips. "I'll see you in school tomorrow." She said and rushed into her home, leaving Jake frozen in his spot. It was the text he got from his mom that snapped him out of his trance.

He looked at his phone and shook his head, reading the message.

"So, did you finally make your move?"

He rolled his eyes as he walked back to his house. "No, she did."

"Ha, that's my girl. Marley Puckerman has a ring to it doesn't it. Well I'll see you at home"

Jake sighed as he stuffed his phone into his pocket, only his mom would be the match maker.


	28. Chapter 28

This one is rated M

* * *

With a taste of your lips I'm on a ride

She really wasn't sure why she was even at this Halloween party, it was completely out of her element. But there Marley Rose stood, trying her best to tug down the short skirt she was wearing. Sadly, the top of the dress would slide down even further so that was a loss cause all together. Marley was starting to hate Unique, the person who picked out her costume and her Italian gangster costume. Her breasts where actually popping out of the top and the hat that kept slipping of her head and the goddamn, barley there skirt that she kept worrying about. She looked over at Unique who had somehow talked her into getting this costume. 'Girl if I had legs like you I would walk around in this outfit every single day!' At least Unique's costume was ok, she opted for the 1920's flapper and all Marley wanted to be was a freakin' witch but nooooo, that hadn't been sexy enough.

Marley pouted as she folded her arms across her chest. "Wow Marls, who talked you into buying that?"

Marley spun around and wasn't surprised to see Jake Puckerman standing behind her dressed in his own version of an Italian mobster with a black button up, stripped vest, white tie and black pants. The tipped white hat on his head just topped the costume off. Marley gave a frustrated sigh as she threw her hands down. "Why, of all things why did you have to choose this?" She asked as she pointed at his costume.

"Hey, I am a huge scar face fan ok!" He folded his arms and tilted his head up. "Man is my idol."

She laughed and then rolled her eyes. "You should pick better role models."

Jake smiled and nudge her a little and she had to admit that he was doing a good job with keeping his eyes on hers and not looking at her like some piece of meat like the other guys were doing. They had gotten into a nice conversation when Sugar came running over to them. "Oh great couple costumes guys." She complimented and then smiled. "So, as the host of this party I see it fit for a spin the bottle game and as host of this party I demand that you two play."

"Sugar, are you serious right now?" Marley asked and Sugar rolled her eyes.

"I'm doing this game for you Marley Rose, so let us all go to the bottle of fortune!"

~X~

So this whole spin the bottle is not the kind of spin the bottle that Marley had seen in tv shows, this is the kind where people go into the closet for seven minutes and come back with wild hair and messed up costume. Marley gulped and tried to get up but then she heard a bunch of guys yelling an excited oh and the girls giving sighs of disappointment. Confused, she looked up to see that Jake had just spun the bottle and it landed on her.

"Destiny speaks!" Sugar shouted and stood up to get Marley up and then grabbed Jake's hand and lead them the laundry room, slamming the door behind them. "And don't come out until you are both physically satisfied!"

Marley took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she heard her walk away. "She is drunk isn't she?" She looks away from the door and back to Jake who was looking at her in a different way. His eyes where raking up and down her body, making her blush. "Jake, please stop looking at me like that."

"Looking at you like what?" he hums as he gingerly placed his hands on her waist and backing her into the washer. "This is how I always look at you." He murmured. "You just never noticed" His breath fans across her lips and she honestly has no idea what to do so he cups the back of her head and pulled her into a kiss. It started out as something very sweet and tentative but she knew for a fact that Jake couldn't stay 'sweet' forever. So she surprised him and herself when she opened her mouth to allow his tongue access. He groaned when she pushed herself against him and then lifted her up onto the washer, their make out session becoming more heated as the time passed. She was surprised at her own actions but being with Jake just made her feel so comfortable in her skin and the way his hands where trailing up and down her bare thighs made a fire brew in her lower belly. Marley whimpered as he sucked on her bottom lip and she ran her fingers through the hair on the nape of his neck when he began to suck on her neck.

"Jake," She mumbled, it was the only coherent thing she could say right now but he wasn't getting the message as he soothed each mark on her neck with his tongue. "Jake," she tried again as she tugged on his hair, pulling his face to hers. "I want you," she swallowed the lump in her throat. "I want you to m-make me feel good."

Jake was silent for a few seconds and blinked a few times before licking his lips. "Really?" He asked in pure awe and Marley smiled.

"Mmhm," She said as she bit her lip. "I just don't want to have sex yet."

"S'ok" Jake murmured, he was still in shock that she was ok with this…maybe she had wanted this as bad as he did. He gripped her thighs a little tighter and kisses her again. "You just gotta relax babe."

Marley bit her lip and nodded her head, letting her body relax against his touch. She had never been in this type of situation before and she honestly thought she never would, she wasn't sure if it was real but then she felt Jake's hand cup her wet heat and she shuddered in delight. Oh yeah, it was real.

"Just let me know if you want me to stop." He whispers huskily as his finger's move her soaked panties aside and brushed his thumb across her clit. He watched her as he pushed one finger inside her and pumped at a steady rhythm. Her head was thrown back and her front teeth where snagged on her lip as she let out these breathy sighs of 'oh god yes' and 'more Jake, please'. So he did as he was told and inserted another finger, reaching up to un-button the top of her costume pushing her bra aside so his other had could group at her breasts.

Finally, Marley felt the heat in her belly reach a boiling point and she fell over the edge, screaming as she let herself go and gripped Jake as if he would float away. She had just had her first orgasm, and the one to help her reach it had been no other then Jake Puckerman. He pulled his fingers from her and smiled when she brought her forehead to his, her chest heaving with heavy breath. "So, how did you like it?"

Marley gave a small laugh and pecked his lips. "Amazing," So she still couldn't think of whole sentences and he laughed with her and he nuzzled his nose against hers. "What about you."

"Don't worry about it, this was all about you." He explained and she frowned, so he once again kissed her, purely addicted to her lips. "But we can worry about that later."

"So what does that make us?" She asked with some doubt in her voice, knowing about his issues with commitment. But he smiled, his hands rubbing up and down her arms.

"Well," He began with a 'serious' face. "I would hate it to see another guy with his arms around you and I'm sure as hell you would hate it if you saw me with another girl…so I think that makes you my girlfriend so that makes me your boyfriend." He smirked. "You ok with that?"

She nodded. "I would love it." She smiled when he gave her one more final kiss before helping her off of the washer. She stumbled a little as her legs felt like jelly but he kept her a foot and she buttoned up her top as they walked out of the laundry room, all eyes on them. "You wanna get out of here?" Jake whispered and Marley squeezed his hand and nodded. "C'mon, I know a great place."

And as they left, they tried their best to ignore Sugar's. "You can thank me now!"


	29. Chapter 29

Something so Simple

What the hell is this? Whatever it was it was not acceptable. He was pretty sure Marley knew that he was interested in her so why the hell was she talking to this Justin Bieber wanna be? He scoffed as the guy flipped his hair out of his face, what-a-freakin'-tool.

"What is that new cologne you're wearing?"

Jake turned his head, he knew the source of the voice.

"Jealously by you?"

He sighed and shut his locker, turning around as he rubbing his face with his hands. "What do you want Kitty?"

The blonde cheerio smiles. "Well I was going to introduce myself to the new football player Ryder Lynn…"

"Sounds like a porn star name." Jake mumbles. "Stupid."

Kitty sent him a glare. "But," She went on. "The girl you dumped me for has obviously preformed some kind of witch craft and he isn't noticing me." She raised a brow and gave him a threatening look. "You better fix this, Ryder and I need to be the star couple so control Honey Boo Boo's cousin." With that, she stuck her head up in the air and turned on her heel before walking away. Jake shook his head and was about to go to glee when he saw Ryder move some hair out of Marley's face. Jake growled as his…rage (Jealously) reached a boiling point and he walked right over to them and smoothly put an arm around Marley's shoulder.

"Hey," He smirked as Marley gave him a confused look. "Are you ready for Glee practice?" He asked with a low, possessive voice and she blinked in confusion. "Cause you know I was thinking about going over the sheet music for Grease, if your offer is still on the table." Her look of confusion turned into one of happiness and she beamed at him.

"You're going to try out for Danny?" She asks with that smile, the one that she saves only for him. "That is awesome Jake, you would be a perfect Danny just like I said before."

Jake smiled back at her and then looked back over to Ryder who was just kind of standing their awkwardly. "Well you do have that sorta effect on me."

Ok so he was wooing her, so sue him. But there was something off with this Ryder guy, like why did he just come up to Marley and start talking to her. "Oh right!" She exclaimed. "Jake this is Ryder he is a transfer student."

"Nice to meet you dude" Jake said with a nod, sizing him up and Ryder looked at them both in confusion. "So football?"

Ryder stuttered and then shifted so he wasn't leaning against the locker like the tool he was. "U-uh yeah um, it was great meeting you Marley and you to Jake." He looked around and secured the backpack on his shoulders. "But I have math class soon so I guess I'll see the two of you around." He said as he backed up and then walked away.

Shaking her head, Marley withdrew herself form Jake's grasp and raised her eyebrows at him. "What was that?" She asked and when Jake faked his own look of confusion she rolled her eyes. "Don't play dumb with me, what was that?"

"What was what?" Jake wondered as he shrugged his shoulders. "I was just meeting that friend of yours."

Marley laughed as she closed her locker. "Nooo, you went into complete alpha male mode." She turned back to him. "You pretty much came up to Ryder like you were two kids on a playground and claimed ownership on the lone toy truck." She took a deep breath. "Except I am not the lone toy truck" Marley said this all with a smile and then looked down at her feet. "But don't worry, Jocks are not my type…I like musicians better." She gave him one final smile before saying. "I'll see you in glee club." And leaving to her next class.

Jake smirked to himself, he had nothing to worry about this Ryder guy and if he did prove to be a threat, he knew who Marley preferred.


	30. Chapter 30

My Girls

"Daddy?"

"Yes sweetie?"

"Are we gonna get mama a kitten?"

"We are not gonna get mama a kitten Elise, mama hates cats!"

"No she doesn't _Vivian_! Mama love cats, right daddy?"

"No kiddo, your mama is not a cat person." Jake sighed as he listened to his two and four year old bicker back and forth. Elise pouted her lip and stuck her head up in the air as Vivian rolled her eyes. He had decided to take the girls out for a daddy daughter day. Marley had left work on maternity leave and he knew that the girls had to be getting to her. Jake had taken the day off just to take them off of her hands…and now he knew why Marley had been close to ripping her hair out.

"Daddy?" Vivian asked and Jake looked at his four year old. "Why don't we get something for mama and baby Felicia?" Vivian smiled her mom's smile. "I know she is still in mama's belly but she'll love it when she comes out!"

Jake smiles and ruffles his daughter's hair. "I like the idea, what do you think Elise?"

The two year old gave a dramatic sigh. "I guess, but we can still get McDonalds after?" She asked, her blue eyes filled with hope.

"Yes Elise, we can still get McDonalds after" Jake confirmed and laughed when the little two year old pumped her small fist in the air. "Now let's go get your mom and sister something nice."

~X~

They end up walking around Times Square longer then they thought they would. Finally, a small shop catches Vivian's eye and she tugs on his sleeve to point it out. "Daddy what about that store?"

Jake smiles as he looks at the little shop with pink curtains over the windows. "Alright, what do you think Elise?"

"I just want food daddy." She groans and Jake shakes his head. "Ok, let's see what they got."

The girls are very behaved in the store and he holds Elise because 99 percent of the items are breakable and she was a tornado if she was let loose. After 30 minutes of wandering through the small shop, they finally struck gold.

"Daddy," Vivian whispers as she stands in front of a music box. "What about this?"

Jake walked over to the display and took a closer look at the music box. It was a wooden bird cage and a little wooden carved, hand painted bird sat on the perch. Along the bottom where hand painted birds and Jake carefully picked it up and turned the knob. An instrumental version of 'Song Bird' poured through the wooden piece of art and the three of them all smiled at each other. "It's perfect"

"Mama and Felicia will love it!"

"Can we plleeeaaassseee get McDonalds now?"

~X~

After a filling but long lunch Jake, Vivian, and Elise finally return home. Marley is sleeping on the sofa with her arms around her seven month baby belly and Rebel, who learned the hard way, slept on the floor below her. Jake put a finger to his lips to shush the girls and they quietly giggled as he tiptoed over and kissed Marley's lips. Her eyes slowly opened and she stretched her arms over her head while yawning.

"Hey baby," She greats as she sits up. "How was your day with the girls."

Vivian ran over to her and hugged, doing her best so she wouldn't 'squish' Felicia, something she often worried about. "We got you and Felicia something!" She exclaims with wide eyes. "C'mon daddy, let's give it to them now!"

Jake chucked as he took the white gift box from the brown paper bag. "The girls picked this out for you and the baby." She smiled as he handed her the box. "They have pretty good taste."

"C'mon mama open it!" Elise yawns as she climbs onto the sofa. Marley smiles as her two and four year old snuggle into her and opens up the lid of the box. Her breath is taken away when she takes the music box out.

"Oh, it's beautiful." She breathes and then turns the knob so the music plays. "I love it."

"It's a birdy mama," Vivian informs her. "Cause you like birds so much and you can put it on your belly so Felicia can hear it."

Marley smiled as she put the music box on her tummy. Jake smirked and joined them on the sofa, Marley laying her head on his chest as the girls giggled when they felt Felicia kick.

"She is dancing to the music mama!" Vivian exclaimed

"No, she is kicking our faces." Elise argues and Jake chuckles as he kisses Marley's cheek. He had no idea how his own father could abandon something like this. This feeling, the feeling of a loving family, it was the best feeling in the world.


	31. Chapter 31

Sweet Baby

It's around 2am when Marley starts feeling the sharp pains in her lower abdomen; she knows what it is because she has already been through it twice. She sits up quickly and winces when another one comes along, they shouldn't be this close together…she shouldn't even be having them. Marley was only seven months along with Felicia, it was still too early. "Jake," She whispers as she shakes his awake, the pressure she was feeling finally leaving when the sheets around her get soaked. She knew what that was, her water broke. "Jake," She whimpered getting more and more worried. Finally he stirred and sat up feeling the fact that the sheets where wet.

"Aw, what the hell?" He growled. "Did Elise sneak in here or something again?" He questioned and then looked up into her scared eyes. "Marley, baby…what's wrong?"

"My water just broke." She sniveled

Jake's eyes went wide when she doubled over again, another contraction coming on. "B-but it's still to early."

"Tell your daughter that." She groaned. "We need to get to the hospital now"

He nodded quickly and grabbed jeans and a tee-shirt, changing quickly as Marley changed her pajama pants. Jake quickly called his brother and luckily Quinn was the one to pick up. "Yeah," Jake said as he looked for his keys. "She is in labor…of course I am sure her water broke…yeah it's still early but what you want me to do about it." He sighs as Marley waddles in to wake the girls. "Thanks Quinn, we will drop them off on our way."

He hangs up as Vivian and Elise shuffle out of their rooms. "C'mon Quinn will take the girls." He grabbed Marley's bag. "Let's get to the hospital."

~X~

Marley gives birth to Felicia via C-section four hours later, the doctors do everything they can but she wasn't getting oxygen so she is blue when they take her from Marley. Jake stands on the other side of the curtain, holding Marley's hand as she sobs. "She is going to be ok baby, she is a fighter." The doctors didn't even let Marley and Jake see their daughter. They start closing Marley up as they work on Felicia and all Jake can do is promise Marley that Felicia will be ok.

~X~

Puck visits the hospital after Felicia is born, both brothers stand outside the NICU ward and they watch as Felicia is hooked up to so many different machines. She screams and cries as they work on her and Puck has to hold onto his brother so he doesn't go running in there.

"She'll be ok," He reassures. "Look, the kids got Puckerman blood in her and she has got some of her mother to." Puck nods as he stares at the small infant. "She is a fighter."

"He is right," They both turn around and see that Marley is standing behind them, a nurse by her side to support her. Marley's face is pale and her hair was pulled back from her face as it hangs in a loose bun. "She'll be alright."

Jake goes over to her and wraps his arms around her as they stare at their daughter. "Could you and Quinn be her god parents?" Marley asks and Puck smiles. "You are both the two strongest people I know she needs all the strength she can get."

Puck nods his head and then rubs his sister in law's shoulders. "Quinn and I will be happy to be her god parents."

~X~

"So Felicia is gonna be ok right Aunt Quinn?" Vivian asks as her Quinn braided her hair into two braids. "Is mama ok?"

Quinn smiles as she separates the four year old's brown hair. "They are both fine, your mama is getting rest and Felicia is getting all the love in the world from all the doctors and nurses."

"Well what does she need the doctors for?" Quinn and Puck's seven year old daughter, Anna, asks as she plays dolls with Elise.

"Well," Quinn starts as she weaves the hair. "Felicia is really, really small and there are some things that she can't do on her own yet. So the doctors are going to help her learn some things so she can do them on her own."

Elise looks up at her, her blue eyes narrowed. "Well, I can teach her how to do stuff live Vi-vi taught me how to do stuff." She puts her doll down and shows off her new shirt that says 'Big Sister' in rhinestones, a gift from Rachel. "I am a big sis' after all."

"When can we see Felicia?" Vivian asks and Quinn frowns because they do not let kids into the NICU ward.

"How about I get Uncle Noah to take a video of her for you and we can watch it after he sends it to us?" Quinn improvises and the Elise and Vivian smile. "So it's a plan then, I'll text your uncle."

~X~

Marley is released from the hospital three days later but she is still in some pain but luckily Jake's mom and Marley's mom came to take care of the girls while they went to visit Felicia at the hospital every day and Puck was right, she was a fighter. They had even gotten to hold her and she was so tiny and thin that she was so scared that she would break.

Finally the day comes when they get to bring her home and Vivian and Elise are jumping out of their skin. Marley walks in holding the carrier and the first thing she notices is the homemade welcome home sign and smiles. "That is amazing girls."

Her compliment goes un heard because the girls as sitting in front of Felicia's carrier looking at her in awe. "Why is her head shaped funny?"

"Her head is not shaped funny _Elise_, she has a hat on?" Vivian snaps back. "Felicia is perfect."

The now two and a half year old rolls her eyes. "No I'm the perfect one remember?"

The bickering is now at an all-time high as Jake's mom and Marley's mom chuckle at their kids who are trying to get their grandkids under control. Soon the front door flies open and Puck walks in with his four daughters and Quinn, it only takes a few seconds for all the girls to get into the snacks and soda.

After a long welcome home party and being passed around, Felicia is excused. Jake sneaks into the nursery after getting Vivian and Elise to sleep and smiles when he sees Marley feeding her. "Hey baby," he whispers as pecks her lips and then kneels down beside the rocker. Marley smiles back and continues her small hum as the music box plays 'Song Bird' softly. Jake watches her for a while and then smirks. "You think that she is going to make it in this family."

Marley softly laughs and then nods. "I have a feeling she will. She is a Puckerman after all"


	32. Chapter 32

Come meet me in the Garden of Eden

He is up on stage with the rest of his graduating class as Figgans announces the last few names. He stands next to Marley with his diploma in one hand and his other hand in hers. They made it, they had made it through their high school years together as best friends. Nothing more, nothing less and sometimes it killed Jake because he wanted more than just friendship. But now they were headed to New York together, Jake with a full ride at Julliard and Marley, who had been offered a job at a radio station and an NYU scholar ship. They were going places, Jake and Marley, they proved that even people who lived in the lower class could go to higher places. They proved Kitty and her friends wrong and it did suck for those groups of people, like Kitty, who would be stuck in Lima.

"Now I present to you, McKinley's graduating class of 2015!" Figgans exclaimed and there was a rain fall of red caps on stage as couples kissed and friends high-fived. Marley beamed as she pulled Jake into a hug and he chuckled against her hair before pulling away just a little and then grabbing her face and kissing her.

There had been times they have kissed before, drunken kisses, jealous kisses, kisses for performances, so he was no stranger to the soft, pillow lips of Marley Rose. He has kissed her before yes, but they were 'friends' so it would never mean anything but he had never kissed her like this. He kissed her so sweetly, his lips massaging hers and he was pouring every ounce of love he felt for her into it. Finally, after needing some air, she pulled away. Her eyes wide in shock, the same expression on her face like she had the first time he asked her out back in sophomore year. Marley reached up and touched her lips and then started to sputter as she searched for words. Jake was going to say something but Unique had come up to Marley and started going on and on about her party afterwards. He sighed, giving up whatever planned speech he was going to give her and walked off. He didn't even notice Marley watching him, a confused look still set on her face.

~x~

She knows where to find him; the bleachers had been their spot, their Garden of Eden so to speak. She has taken off the red robe so her pale pink sundress had started billowing in the warm May breeze. Marley sighed when she spotted him, he was sitting at the same place where he had first stole her heart, the place where he confronted her about her eating disorder…he called her beautiful that day, it was the same bench where he had told her that he was jealous of Ryder and kissed her. That same bench was the bench where she held him those many times after he lost it, it was where she calmed him after his dad showed up begging for money. It was there where he asked he told her that his mom was marrying Ryder's dad and that same bench is where he asked her to prom and opened up their acceptance letter.

So yes, those bleachers and that bench was their spot, was their paradise and no one could break it. But after all those shared moments they had, she still labeled him as her friend and part of her, no most of her wanted something different.

"Jake," She murmured as she took a seat next to him, smoothing out her dress. "I figured I would find you here." Marley smiled. "This spot holds a lot of memories doesn't it?" She asked, letting her mind wander back to the smooth melody of his guitar and the harmony that their voices made when they were joined. "This is where we had our first connection." She tells him as she looks down at her hands. "I guess we will have to find a new place in New York right?"

He doesn't say anything and the silence is deafening. "I bought all these nice things for the apartment," Marley smiles. "And ear plugs, cause I know how you are with the girls."

Jake suddenly looks up at her and Marley can tell by the look on his face that she had said the wrong thing. "My God Marley, you don't get it do you?" He seethes and Marley isn't surprised at the look of anger all over his face. "You always do this god damnit! We have a moment and you do this and I am the one with commitment problems?" He laughs. "You can't deny that what happened back there wasn't real. I wanted to kiss you like that and I have wanted to kiss you like that for years now." Jake's voice strained as he spoke to her. "I don't want any of those girls in New York I want you." He is now speaking so softly that it comes out in a whisper. "I have always wanted you Marley and I'm pretty sure I showed you that. But it's you that keeps pushing it away because I know you feel the same way." Marley looks away from him and Jake grabs her face. "I am in love with you Marley, if you told me right now to jump off these bleachers I would do it. If you told me right now that you wanted to go to Paris to see those art museums you always talk about I would book the plane tickets right now, hell I would even learn French for you because I know how much you want to see France." His eyes searched hers as his hands stayed on her face. "But the one thing I am not going to do is lie about my feelings toward you. I am not going to act as if that kiss didn't mean anything and I am sure as hell am not going to sleep with half the population of New York because the only face I want to see when I wake up to is yours." Now she is the silent one and she isn't even looking at him. So with a sigh he stands up. "Then I can't do this with you, I'm tired of this game."

He starts to walk away when he finally hears those words he has been waiting to hear. "But I love you to Jake," He is grateful that it is so silent or he wouldn't have heard her. Jake turns around and looks at her. She is on her feet with her hands folded in front of her, a lone breeze playing with her skirt and her hair. "I love you to Jake," She looks up at him. "I love you so much but I was so scared that it would end in heartbreak and I would lose the only friend I have." He begins to walk back over to her. "And that kiss did mean something to me, every kiss we have ever shared has meant something to me." She is crying and her voice is breaking. "I just," She sniffs and wipes her tears away. "If we do this, if we become more then friends I need to know that you would be in it 100 percent."

Now Jake takes the steps two at a time and scoops her into his arms, his lips once again on hers as her feverishly kisses her and this time she is kissing him back. They both break the kiss at the same time, their foreheads touching as the sun sets behind them. "You know that I would never ever give you up, ever. I wanna marry you one day Marley and have a family with you." She giggles and he smirks. "Guess I never thought I would be saying that."


	33. Chapter 33

A Bird With Broken Wings

The sky is a beautiful mixture of pink and red as she walks home from school. Marley had decided to walk home instead of sticking around and waiting for her mom. She wasn't upset or anything like her mom had thought, she just needed to clear her head. Two weeks ago Jake broke up with Kitty and Marley wasn't sure if it was for her or not. Sure Jake was like her knight in shining armor, he stood up for her when she was made fun of and made damn sure that her tormentors would never make fun of her again. When they would walk down the hallway together, her books clenched to her chest and his hands in his pockets, he would give threatening glances to anyone who would snicker or point in her direction. But for a boy to break up with his girlfriend for her, Marley Rose, the girl with the lunch lady mom and who needed food stamps…that was unheard of…but maybe not for Jake. She was starting to think that maybe, just maybe he shared her feelings; maybe he liked her the way she liked him.

Her walk home was silent to say the least, that was true until she heard the distinct sounds of a basketball hitting pavement and then the swoosh of the net. She stopped walking and squinted her eyes toward the beaten up basketball courts of Lima Heights. A smile graces her face when she sees a leather jacket with blue lining draped over the metal fence. Zipping her hoddie up, she walked over to the courts with the smile on her face as she gets closer to the figure that is Jake Puckerman. She watches him for a while as he huffs and puffs as she shoots the ball and runs to get it. Marley watches him in a trance like state, he is really good, good enough to play for the school team. She notices that he is in some sort of trance because despite the cold weather, he is wearing short sleeves. Marley quickly finds herself starring at his arms, the arms that she once imagined herself to be in one day, she then subconsciously licks her lips when his blue tee rides up a little and she gets a glance of the six pack that she knows is under there. She is a teenage girl, hormones and all, she had a right to check him out…she thought that he had checked her out a number of times, but maybe that was her imagination as well.

But then she hears him curse and the ball bounces off the rim and rolls over toward her. She bends down to pick up the orange ball and looks up at the 10 thousand watt smile of Jake Puckerman. "Hey Marley," He greets and looks her up and down again, she still thinks it is her imagination, him checking her out. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh," Her blue eyes go wide. "I was just walking home and…"

"Walking home?" He interrupts with a questioning look. "You cannot walk home in Lima Heights on your own," He scolds her. "You should have texted me, I would have walked with you."

Marley smiles and her face heats up, she is certain she is blushing. "I'm not a glass doll," She says. "I can walk home on my own." She doesn't say it defensively or uncertainly but confidently and hands him the ball.

Jake shrugs his shoulders and twirls the ball in his hands. "I just want you to be safe," He then looks back over to the court and then to the ball in his hands. "You wanna play a round?"

She laughs. "I am not playing 1 on 1 with you, I have seen you…you're good."

"I was leaning along the line of Horse…strip Horse actually." He gives her that flirty half smirk and she rolls her eyes. "Alright so maybe regular horse."

A giggle passes through her lips and she nods. "Alright one game of regular horse, but I am warning you that I do suck."

"Damn then, I shoulda talked you into the strip version."

Marley pretends to be annoyed and bumps into his shoulder as she walked past him. "Your cockiness is at an all-time high."

"You love it," He reminds her and she shakes her head as he passes her the ball. "You can start."

~x~

So one game turns into two and then two games turn into three and she is doing pretty well to say the least, she won the second one and is about to win the third one when his comment makes her miss the shot completely.

"What?" She asks as the ball bounces off toward the grass and Jake sighs as he retrieves it.

"I said that you are like a bird with broken wings." He repeats as he dribbles the ball and then gets a basket.

Her eyes narrow as she catches it and holds it still. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Yes it does," He pushes as he takes the ball from her hands and then shoots again. "Are you still playing?"

Marley shook her head no about the game. "No it doesn't."

Jake dribbles the ball and keeps on playing as he answers her. "Yeah it does." He tells her. "You're like a bird Marley. Your voice is so powerful but is sometimes ignored by people that don't appreciate its beauty and birds have a certain beauty about them if you take notice of their feathers. But unlike a bird, you can't fly away."

Marley is surprised because the guy that sleeps in English class is finding a way with words and using metaphors. "Why can't I fly away?"

"Because you haven't found strength to fly yet." He explains and then holds the ball still. "You act like you are ok with everything, the bullying and the labels but you still haven't freed yourself from the kids from your other schools." He chucks the ball into the grass and sticks his hands into his pocket. "So that's why I am how I am around you, I feel like the person who needs to mend that broken wing of yours." His eyes are burning into hers. "So you can fly away from the crap you faced at your old schools and free yourself from the ones here and until then I am going to protect you so your wing can heal right."

Marley smiled and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "So you are like the dog right, that chases the cat away?"

Jake nods his head, a true smile forming on his face. "Yeah I guess I am…Kitty is the cat right?"

"Of course, it's in her name." She looks down at the ground and then sighs as she looks back up at him. "But sometimes the dog can hurt the bird."

He smiles at her and cups her cheek. "Not this dog, he is well trained."

Marley smile and closed her eyes, allowing his lips to touch her forehead. He pulled away but kept their close proximity. "You wanna come over." She suddenly asked and he stepped back. "And watch some movies or something? I'll make homemade pizza."

"You had me at homemade pizza" He says with a laugh and grabbed his leather jacket. "C'mon my little blue bird, lead the way."

"Blue bird?" She asks and Jake nods.

"Yeah, cause of your blue eyes." He clarifies and she laughs. "What it makes sense."

She smiles as she twirls her necklace with the feather charm wondering how he knew about her love of a song bird.

AN- My friend and I realized this earlier and we are not sure if that is what RIB is trying to get us to understand. If you look at episode stills, Marley is always wearing a feather charm and like a bird she is subtle and timid. Kitty, just like her name, is a cat who hunts the bird and tries to harm it. Maybe we are just over analyzing it but it actually does make sense if that is what they are trying to get past us.


	34. Chapter 34

A Helping Hand

"I need your help." Says the voice of Marley Rose as she walks up behind him and stops with her arms folded across her chest. Jake turned around to see her without her tool of a boyfriend standing next to her. But instead a frown is set on her face and there is a hint of annoyance in her blue eyes. His eyes start to scan the hallway for any sign of the boyfriend, Ryder Lynn, and smiles when he doesn't see him at all.

"What's up butter cup?" Jake asks as he shuts his locker and Marley gives a tired sigh and then pulls him towards the middle of the hallway and points to a couple making out against the trophy case. Jake blinks in confusion. "Well if you wanna do that we can go into a janitors closet, they are much better suited for making out."

His best friend swats his arm and he sends her a smirk. "Jake, just look…" She says as she points to the couple again. "I know its early in the morning and your brain isn't on yet but c'mon."

So Jake takes a better look and his jaw drops because the couple making out was no other then his ex-girlfriend Kitty and Marley's…well so called boyfriend Ryder. He is speechless as he turns and looks at her and then back to Kitty and Ryder. "Do you want me to like beat him up or something?"

"No," She sighs. "We broke up last night," She quickly put a finger up before he could speak. "And don't say 'I'm so sorry Marley' because I know you are mentally jumping for joy. I just need you and that guitar's help."

Jake smirks. "Why, what do you have in mind."

"Taylor Swift." Marley states as she turns back to him. "I want to sing Taylor Swift to him."

"Marley I know I am your best friend but I am not going to help you get back together with that guy, he is a douche and I thought you saw that but it you are going to…." Jake rambled on and she place a finger to his lips, silencing him.

"No, I want to let him know that I am never getting back together with him." She smiled and removed her finger. "I figured you would want to help me with that."

Jake gives her an amused look and then looks over at Ryder and Kitty with a glint in his eyes. "Of course I would help you with that."

~X~

They walk into Glee Club that afternoon and Jake notices that Marley has a confidence in her step as she walks over in her chair and sitting down. Jake looks up and sees Ryder sitting all on his lonesome and smirks as he takes a seat next to Marley. Finn walks in moments later and before he can say anything, Marley's hand is in the air and Finn blinks in shock and then answers her. "Yeah Marley?"

"I have a song that I want to share," She says with a sweet smile. "And Jake is gonna help me with it."

Finn nods his head and steps aside as Marley and Jake get up, Jake pulls a stool over and sits down with his guitar as Marley tells the band about the song. After she is done she walks toward the center of the room and then nods to Jake who opens the song 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.' And once Marley starts singing all eyes are on Ryder giving him the 'Sucks to be you look' and Sugar and Brittany start harmonizing with Marley as the whole gets into it. Jake finds himself getting into it as he stands up from his stool, walking around Marley still playing the melody. Marley turns to him as she sings, smiling her nose crinkling smile as she proclaimed her distaste for Ryder Lynn. Jake stops playing for a moment when Marley rolls her eyes and turns to face Jake, mocking a conversation.

"Ugh, he calls me up and he's like, I still love you and I'm like, I'm just, I mean this is exhausting, you know we are never getting back together, like ever."

At this point Ryder knows he is screwed and pretty much shrinks in his seat as she continues the song, belting the last few notes as the glee club helps her with the vocals. Jake takes notice that she is getting closer and closer to him, to the point where she almost knocks into his guitar.

_"You go talk to your friends talk and my friends talk to me but we are never ever, ever, ever getting back together"_ She finishes the song with a big smile and a little breathless as Jake takes one arm and wraps it around her waist, pulling her close to his side. She laughs a little at this and then she turns her attention back to Ryder. "I just wanted you to know two things," She explains as Jake keeps a dominate smile on his face. "One, we are not getting back together and two." She smiles up at Jake. "You opened up my eyes to a person that truly cares about me." And with that proclamation, she leans up to kiss Jake right on the lips. There is a collection of 'I told you so' and 'Finally'. But Jake doesn't care, his heart is racing a mile a minute because he finally got the girl he wanted.

And when they pull apart and take sit back down, Jake turns back to Ryder and offers him this. "Have fun with Kitty man." And Marley shoves him playfully as he drapes an arm across her shoulder, she was his girl now and he was going to be damn sure that it wouldn't change.


	35. Chapter 35

This is War

"Oh God" Marley whispers as her eyes trail up and down the walls in the cafeteria, she starts to shake as she reads the cruel words spray painted all over and her eyes tear up. She starts to feel short of breath and dizzy, no just no, this could not be happening again. A broken sob escapes her lips and her legs give out as she crumbles to the floor, crying uncontrollably. Her sobs grow louder and louder, they bounce off the walls of the cafeteria and through the hallway. She should have known, she should have fucking known that Kitty wasn't her friend. This was the cheerleaders way of getting revenge, why did she even trust her?

She had to be alone in the cafeteria for only fifteen minutes when she hears footsteps running down the hall. They stop at the entrance of the lunch room and she recognizes the voice. "Holy shit." Marley doesn't look up because she knows it is Jake and she knows that he is not alone judging from the gasps she is hearing. But she doesn't move as Jake walks up to her and kneels down next to her. "Marley?" He puts his arms around her and she allows him to pull her close to him.

"Who did this?" She hears Finn ask, his voice laced anger

Jake doesn't miss a beat before saying. "It was Kitty and her friends." She feels his grip on her tighten. "They did this."

Marley turns her head to read the walls again. She sees the phrase fat slob spray painted and the word cow along with another phrase. Her name is also written on the wall with more hateful comments, she didn't understand what she ever did to make Kitty hate her so much.

"Can't we do something about this?" She hears Tina ask and the rest of the glee club stayed silent.

"Like what, go to Figgins, he isn't going to do anything about it." Santana says with narrowed eyes.

Jake started to rub her back as she read the wall, trying to pull her attention from it. "Why don't we just paint over it?" He suggests. "I mean the art room is right down the hall so…"

The glee club and the old members start to talk amongst themselves and Quinn smiles and says. "Then what are we waiting for, let's get a move on c'mon people."

Marley closed her eyes and let out a shuddering breath as Jake gave her once last squeeze before standing up. He offers his hand to help her up and carefully holds onto her as she stands and wobbles a bit. "Are you ok?" He murmurs and she nods her head. "C'mon, let's get this stuff of the wall."

The others come back with the paint and opening up the paint and pouring some of it into trays. All is going well as the graduated members and the remaining members of the glee club paint over the profanity on the walls. But not everything is ok with Marley, Jake was watching her carefully and noticed the frown on her face as she stared blankly at the paint brush in her hands. She had been through a lot the past week, he had learned about her eating disorders and would do anything to help her and make her smile…just this once. Jakes eyes looked around the lunchroom and then he smirked when he saw that idiot Ryder trying to open up paint can. Smiling a smile as large as the moon, Jake dipped his paint brush into the can and flung the paint that was on the brush. It did hit Ryder like he intended for it to do but it also got Santana, Quinn and Mercedes.

"Oh hell no" Mercedes grumbled and Jake started laughing, out of corner of his eye he saw Marley glance over at them.

"This," Santana noted grumpily as she took off her jacket. "This means war."

And just like that, Jake finds himself covered with paint, he turns around when he hears a gasp and sees that Marley is also covered. Santana is standing in front of him laughing and surprisingly Marley joins in. Paint and laughter started to fill the air and it covered the walls and the floor. Just as Jake was about to dump the whole bucket onto Santana he slipped and landed with a thud on the floor. The Latina turned around and laughed and quickly stopped when Blaine painted half of her face. Marley, whose nose was crinkled in laughter came over to him and reached out her hand to help him out. Her action of kindness failed when she went tumbling down, her body halfway on his. Both teens where consumed in laughter and out of all of them, Marley was covered the most. She stopped laughing long enough to take a deep breath and calmed herself down, the smile still on her face. "Thank you Jake." She murmured amongst the chaos.

"For what?" he asked as he pulled some of her hair off her face.

She gave a breath of a laugh and then put a paint covered hand on the right side of his face. "For being my rock."

He chuckled. "And what do I get for that?"

Marley rolled her eyes and then summed up some courage for what she was about to do next. Right in the middle of the paint war, Marley Rose kissed Jake Puckerman. It was a gentle, loving kiss and Marley sighed in bliss as his lips caressed hers. Their kiss would have gone longer but they suddenly remembered where they were and broke apart quickly, looking up to the glee club that was now surrounding them.

"Get a room" Santana remarked and then turned to Finn. "I called it come on hand over the cash."

"Santana!" Quinn scolded and then sighed. "But seriously, if you two do decide to do that use a condom. I don't think Beth needs a cousin"

"Aw, C'mon guys lay off of them," Blaine said. "You two are adorable together."

"Sweet little Jarley." Brittany smiled. "That's your couple name." She informed them.

The rest of the glee club took their cans of paint and looked at each other. "And because you two decided to bail out on the paint war, we are going to finish it with you." Rachel said and next thing they both new, five cans of paint was being poured on them and Jake didn't even care. All he cared about was the girl in his arms and keeping her there for as long as he can.


	36. Chapter 36

And I Will Try To Fix You

Marley Rose loved the cold, rainy, October, Sunday afternoons. It was a time where she could snuggle up on the sofa under a warm blanket with a good book. She decided on The Legend of Sleepy Hallow today being that Halloween was next week. Marley smiled as she turned the page, getting deeper and deeper into the tale of Ichabod Crane and the headless horsemen. But sadly a knock on the front door disturbed her peace and she groaned as she stood up and checked the time on her phone. She frowned when she noticed that it couldn't be Jake because he was still in dance practice. So she sighed as she walked over and opened the door, realizing the bad move she made by not looking through the peep hole.

"Dad?" Marley breathed, her eyes going wide. "W-what are you doing here…you can't be here."

He rolled his eyes at her comment. "I'm not allowed to see my family?" He chuckled as he tried to walk past her. "It's been to long Marley, and you turned into a lovely young woman."

"How did you find us" She growls, her blue eyes narrowing. "We have a PFA you can't be near us."

"No, you _had_ a PFA." He grins his sick twisted grin. "And trust me, you and your mother are not that hard to find." He then looked past her and into the mobile home. "Aren't you gonna let me in? C'mon Marley Bear."

"Don't call me that." Marley says through clenched teeth. "Now leave before I call the cops."

Marley's father chuckled, his gaunt pale face turning red. "Who the hell do you think you are talking to little girl?" He starts screaming. "I come home to help the two of you out and this is the welcome I get." Marley goes numb as her cheek begins to throb, had he hit her? She wasn't sure. "You ungrateful little bitch are you listening to me?" He shouts in Marley's face. But Marley had trained herself on how to deal with this, when she was younger she trained herself to leave her body. "This is the thanks I get huh? You are a disrespectful little shit!" His voice is now low and filled with venom. "You outta learn how to respect your father." The next thing Marley knew the wind was being knocked out of her and she was lying on back struggling to get up as he pushed his foot on her stomach. "You know, I came back to see how you were doing and you had to set me off. Marley Bear, you know how easy it is to upset me."

The door to the trailer is still wide open and Marley hopes for something, anything as she watches her father wrap his belt around his knuckles. She closed her eyes, a waiting the impact of his punch when there is a grunt, crash, and the sound of glass breaking. Marley opens her eyes and sat up, turning around to see a figure over top of her dad, punching him as he held his shirt collar. Marley blinked her eyes, determined to make the blurriness go away, when it finally does she sees that the figure is Jake. She stood up, struggling to find her balance as she swayed a little. "Jake," She croaked as she steadied herself on the chair beside her. "Jake…" She whimpered.

Jake stopped his attacks and turned his head to look at her. "Shit Marley." He murmured as he stood up, Marley took a quick glance at her father. His face was swelling up quickly and his nose was awkwardly bent. Jake took two big steps and pulled Marley into him, holding her close as Marley shook terribly. She took notice to the warm red puddle that was starting to stain his shirt.

"Jake you're bleeding." She whispered and he shushed her and stroked her hair.

"That's not me, you don't feel your nose bleeding?" Jake asked and Marley put her hand to her nose and flinched at the instant pain she felt as he fingers brushed over it. "Don't touch it ok, I'm going to call 911." His voice is soft as he talks to her but then turns harsh when her father attempts to move. "Don't you get up or it's going to be more than the nose."

The cops respond to the call pretty quickly. Soon enough they are taking her dad away, once again in handcuffs. She stares him down as the EMTs check her out and Jake gives a statement. He had some cuts on his face from the glass table but other than that he was ok. When he was done, he came back over to Marley and took a seat next to her.

"Are you going to get in trouble?" She asked weakly and he shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know yet." His voice was soft and gentle as he rubbed her. "They still have to take your statement."

"Miss Rose?" The police officer said as he walked over to them. "I would like to ask you some questions" The cop looks at Jake and he gives a nod before getting up. He doesn't get too far because Marley's hand reaches out and grabs his, her eyes begging him to stay.

"I'll be right over there ok Marls, it'll be ok." Jake explains and goes over and sits on the stairs to her front door.

She keeps her eyes on him when the cops ask her questions and she answers the best she can. She told them about the restraining orders and the previous cases of abuse. They finally start asking her about Jake and she tells them both the truth. "He was keeping me safe, if Jake hadn't shown up…I don't know what would have happened."

They end up taking her to the hospital anyway for further treatment and they do call her mom who was in Boston for the weekend to take care of her mom-mom. So with permission she is released and Jake is waiting for her with a sad smile on his face. "You ready to go home?" He asked, its late at night and the cold October air nips at her skin. Jake takes notice and puts his jacket around her and helps her into his truck. The ride home is silent and it starts to rain as she leans her head on the window, getting a good look of her black eye and swollen nose in the mirror. She feels so out of it that she doesn't even notice that they are back at her house and she swallows hard when she figures that she'll have to sleep there alone. "Your mom said I could stay…if-if you want." Jake stuttered and Marley slowly nodded. She closes her eyes when she hears Jake open his car door and shut it. She is so emotionally weak that she can't find the strength to even move to open the door. But somehow Jake knows and the next thing she knows, he is carrying her into her house and past the broken coffee table. He takes her right to her room and sets her down onto her bed before finding her a sweatshirt and a pair of leggings. Jake frowns as she looks blankly at the blue shirt and black leggings and his hands start to shake when he realizes that he would have to be the one to change her. So with an audible gulp he takes a closer step toward her and she raises her arms for him to get her shirt off. The nervous shaking goes to one of anger and rage when he sees the foot shaped bruise on her stomach and side. But then he notices something else, old circular scars. He knew what they were, cigarette burns. He clenched his jaw and let out a ragged breath as he reached for her blue sweat shirt and pulling over her head and onto her body. She is still looking past him; Marley was a shell of a girl right now. So he quickly gets her jeans undone and slides them down her legs and he feels pretty proud of himself because he has managed to not think anything inappropriate yet. But he inwardly curses as he pulls the leggings up her legs because they are the most pain in the ass clothing. He then kneels down in front of her again after she is changed and takes her face in his hands, forcing her to look at him.

"Marley," He murmurs. "Marley, its ok you can cry, its ok, let it out. "He watches as her eyes flicker back to him and he bottom lip starts to quiver. "Let it out Marley."

And just like that she launched herself into his arms and her sobs filled the room. He rubs her back and comforts her the best way he can as he rocked her back and forth. She cries for an hour and it makes her voice raspy but after she is calmed he puts her into bed and goes to sleep in the living room when she stops in.

"No, please stay." She whispers and he does because he can't stand to see her like this. Jake carefully climbs in her bed and she snuggles into him, a comfortable vibe setting between them and the silence stays before she breaks it. "I want to tell you about my dad." She tells him and Jake nods, giving her the ok. So she licks her lips before she explains everything. "My mom and dad had me young, they were only 18 and it was pretty much a shot gun kind of wedding cause she was already pregnant with me. Ever since I was little I remember my dad being an angry man. He would drink and yell and have tantrums over the littlest things…" She grows silent again and a few more tears slid out of her eyes and Jake holds her even closer. "I was five the first time he ever hurt me. It was a Saturday morning and my mom was still sleeping. I was hungry so I climbed up onto the counter to get cereal and knocked down a box in the process. My dad saw it when he came in the kitchen, grabbed me by the arm and pulled me off the counter. Then he backhanded my face and told me if I told my mom where I got the bruise, things would be worse for her." She shrugged. "But things did get worse, for the both of us because he just kept getting worse and worse. Then when I was 10 my mom fully took notice about what was going on. She came home one night after he took out all of his rage on me and found him on the couch passed out drunk and me in the corner with cigarette burns all over my stomach and my face swollen. She called the police and we got out of there."

Jake's eyebrows frowned as he kept comforting her, never letting her go. "Then what the hell was he doing out of jail?"

"I don't know," Marley whispered. "Parole maybe," She blinked as she reached up to touch his face that had been nicked from the glass from the coffee table. "I thought you were going to kill him Jake."

"I wanted to," He confessed. "What kind of a man hits a woman?" He asks. "I hate it, I hate that there are people in this world like that and when I saw you on the floor with the black and the bloody nose…I just went insane. It just…I never want to see you hurt and I never want to see people hurting you." He took a deep breath. "My mom dated this guy when I was thirteen, Peter O'Neal, he was like your dad…angry all the time and one day he hit my mom, right in front of me. I didn't know what to do because I have never seen a guy hit a girl, my mom told me that it was wrong. He lasted about one more week in the house because he kept screaming and attack us. My mom threw him out afterwards, with a shot gun pointed at him. He never came back after that." He looked at her bruised nose. "I can't imagine living through it for five years."

Marley took a deep breath, tears prickling in her eyes again as he put his forehead to hers. "Marley, I am never, ever going to let anything happen to you ever again." He whispered as he looked into her sleepy eyes. "I'm never going to leave you." He brushed some hair away from her face and gulped. "I love you too much to ever let anything happen to you."

Then for the first time tonight. "I love you to Jake."

With that admission, Jake kissed her forehead and let her finally go to sleep against him and letting that feeling of being safe overcome her. Sure the teenage boy in him wanted to kiss more than just her forehead but there would be plenty of time for that, he had all the time in the world to show her how a real guy treated a girl.


	37. Chapter 37

You're The One That I Want

"Dude, this play is the best thing ever." Ryder Lynn says as he puts his leather jacket on. "The kissing scene coming up soon and Marley is smoking hot." He bragged. "I'm so ready."

Jake Puckerman grumbled to himself as he watched Ryder Lynn walk away with a smile on his face, what the hell was he getting at anyway. His eyes feel toward Marley who was getting some help with her bad Sandy outfit from Rachel and gave an annoyed sigh. He should have gotten the role of Danny, at least he knew what he was auditioning for…unlike jackass number one over there. This was painful, like seriously painful. Watching Ryder sing with Marley and dance with her…it pissed him off and yeah Kitty was right, he was jealous. It wasn't the real play yet, just a dress rehearsal but Artie had said he wanted to practice the kissing scene.

But as Jake sees the nerves in Marley's eyes as she walks out on stage. Ryder's arms wrap around her waist and he leans in to kiss her but she ducks out and turns to Artie who looks annoyed and Finn who looks confused. "I'm sorry…I just-I can't." She backs up a little. "I can't kiss him."

Everyone gets silent and Marley looks nervously at the two directors. "Why can't you do it Marley?" Finn asks as Artie starts cursing.

She looks at everyone's concerned glances and Kitty's sneer. "I just…don't feel well and I don't want to get him sick."

"Alright," Finn says, already tired. "We'll try it tomorrow then; we are done for the day."

Marley nods and then goes off stage, it takes a while but Jake finally knows why she can't do it. She hasn't had her first kiss yet and he knows it's a big deal for a girl for some reason.

"You should go after her." Jake turned around and saw Rachel standing behind him smiling. "You didn't notice but I did. The whole time she was singing she was looking at you, not at Ryder…she has zero chemistry with him; I don't understand why Finn chose him as Danny." She rambles and then shrugs her shoulders. "But still," She said as she gave him a shove. "Go after her."

"Why?" Jake asks, "Apparently they are perfect for each other, the jock and the nobody."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Well they aren't, you two are perfect for each other." She then smirks and tilts her head. "Sometimes the good girl needs the bad guy…look at Sandy and Danny. Now go after her."

With a smile, Jake nods his head and listens to Rachel's advice. He doesn't have to search long because he finds her sitting outside the doors of the auditorium. "Marley, you ok?"

"Are they going to take the part from me?" She asks with wide blue eyes and Jake shakes his head no. "Good," She takes a deep breath and leans back on the wall. "Can't you stage kisses?"

"I think so," Jake says as he sits down next to her. "But hey, I don't blame you for not wanting to kiss him…the guy had anchovy pizza for lunch today." He laughed as she scrunched up her nose in disgust. "But why didn't you want to kiss him?"

Marley shrugged her shoulders and the looked at him. "Because I haven't been kissed yet, I don't want a stage kiss with a guy that I don't like that way to be my first kiss." She looked down at her hands. "I mean Ryder is nice and all but I can't see him in that way, he is kinda like the little brother type you know."

Jake chuckles and then gives a nod. "Well good, I'm glad that you're not into him like that."

A smile forms across Marley's face. "Why are you glad I'm not into him."

"Well…uh, you know…he is like a tool you know and well just not your type and um not really good for you." He rambles, a blush spreading across his face. "You should be with somebody that well…makes you happy."

"You make me happy," She murmurs and gives a half a smile. "I think I would have been more comfortable if you were Danny." Jake blinks in a mixture of hope and confusion, was she asking what he thought she was asking? Why did girls have be so confusing? "Jake?" She whispers and his chocolate eyes meet her crystal ones. "I would like it if you where my first kiss."

"H-here…now?" He sputters and Marley gives a shy nod.

"Well only if you want to but it you don't that's fine I-" And Jake cuts off her ramble by crushing his lips to hers and doing what he should have done that breezy September afternoon, he kissed Marley Rose and it was the best feeling he had ever felt. Kissing her felt like a small burn that turned into a raging inferno, it was like being struck by lightning. He had never felt that when he kissed other girls and he would never kiss another girl after kissing Marley. She pulls away after a while to catch her breath and a smile graces her face. "That was really-" and cuts her off with another kiss, because she is just that addicting. "You got to stop doing that" She says against his lips and Jake chuckles because he will never stop.

"Oh I get it now."

Begrudgingly, Jake pulls away from Marley and looks back to see Ryder standing behind him. He sighs as Marley holds back a laugh. "Get what?" He grumbles.

"Why Marley wouldn't do the kissing scene, I didn't know you two were dating…." He gave a disappointed look and then shrugs. "Sorry about all the stuff I said about your girl man."

Marley's eyebrows narrowed. "What stuff?"

"Well anyway…I guess I will see you guys tomorrow" He tried his best to smile. "Later" then the jock walked away from them and Marley still held the concerned look on her face.

"Is he ok?" She asks and Jake shrugs as he stands up. "He looked pretty upset."

Jake shrugs as he puts his hand out to help Marley out. "No, but he will get over it."

She gave a sly smile as she leaned up to kiss his lips again. "I'm a heart breaker aren't I?"

With a chuckle, Jake grabbed her hand. "You have no idea babe, no idea."


End file.
